REPORT
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
In the latest twist in the saga of Aspiration, the troubled Marina Del Rey, California-based neobank is suing fraud prevention platform Socure, saying it shouldn’t have to pay a $4 million bill for a contract it canceled.
The suit alleges that Socure failed to deliver adequate services and then won a pricey contract renewal in part by providing Deepak Kumar, Aspiration’s former chief administrative officer, with lavish personal benefits and gifts.
📰 ARTICLE
💡INSIGHTS
ChatGPT parent company OpenAI shared that the Klarna’s adoption of the technology is estimated to yield a $40 million improvement in the company’s profits this year.
Almost immediately after agreeing to reduce “swipe” fees charged to merchants to process credit card transactions, Mastercard plans to increase fees for both credit and debit card transactions by more than $250 million this month.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
🇺🇸 NATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Fiserv CEO compensation rose last year to $28M.
⭐️ Neobank Inter&Co Aims For Brazilian Diaspora To Drive US Growth.
⭐️ FinTech Adro Raises $1.5 Million in Pre-Seed Funding.
⭐️ FinTech infrastructure startup Parafin secures $125m warehouse facility.
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FINTECH
Tally Launches Credit Card Debt Management Platform For Partners. Tally now offers financial institutions unique ways to deepen relationships with their customers while empowering users to improve their finances.
Capchase Infra launches. With the growing use of automation tools, the most innovative financial institutions are leveraging AI technologies to enhance existing capabilities and fill in gaps.
Klarna announced in an industry-first, the launch of a new online initiative - Wikipink - aimed at setting new standards for transparency and responsibility in the credit and lending industry.
ClearBank Considers US Expansion After Hitting Profitability. Charles McManus, the British firm’s CEO, told that the company has applied for a banking license in the Netherlands, and is considering launching in the U.S. by 2026, possibly through an acquisition.
Skipify and Visa Partner to Extend Reach and Capabilities of Skipify's Connected Wallet. Through this effort, Skipify aims to reinvent the way consumers transact, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to simplify and accelerate the payment process.
Finzly announced the launch of Account Galaxy™, a groundbreaking solution that provides the tools and technology needed by banks of all sizes to participate in the emerging embedded banking segment.
PAYMENTS
Visa announced the launch of Subscription Manager, a new, all-in-one service for financial institutions to provide Visa cardholders with a simple, convenient way to track their subscriptions, all from the palm of their hands.
The Clearing House RTP network breaks instant payments records. The network experienced a record 76 million transactions in the first quarter, valued at $42 billion. March was also a record month with nearly 27 million transactions.
Trustly and Cross River Bank Find Success With Instant Payment Adoption. With this addition, Trustly’s merchants will benefit from new capabilities to optimize the routing of funds instantly via Cross River’s application programming interface (API) endpoint.
OPEN BANKING
FinGoal Partners with Quiltt to Enhance Financial Services Through Transaction Enrichment. The partnership is set to bring about a transformation in how financial data is accessed, interpreted, and utilized.
DIGITAL BANKING
Piermont and Sutton banks face FDIC consent orders. The orders highlighted purported shortcomings in the banks' Banking as a Service activities and partnerships with FinTech firms.
Digital bank OakNorth looks to US expansion. Digital bank OakNorth is expanding its business beyond the United Kingdom and into the United States, exploring a merger and acquisition strategy.
Greenlight Survey Finds Financial Anxiety Begins as Young as 14 Years Old. 76% of Gen Z teens are stressed about money, while Gen Alpha shows higher financial confidence
Santander to introduce Openbank in US. Openbank operates with a technological platform designed in-house at Santander that provides secure, easy and simple best-in-class customer experience by combining functionality and design.
CRYPTO
Xoom Enables PayPal USD as a Funding Option for Cross-Border Money Transfers. Rolling out to customers in the U.S. starting today, the new funding option will allow U.S. Xoom users to easily convert the PYUSD in their linked PayPal Cryptocurrency.
SBF Is Going to Prison, but the Fight Over Money at FTX Drags On: Crypto exchange’s collapse is still a source of anger and frustration for many onetime customers, more than a year later.
Coinbase Selects Lightspark to Now Integrate the Lightning Network. The collaboration aims to provide Coinbase users with faster and cheaper transactions while alleviating congestion on the main Bitcoin blockchain.
Goldman Sachs named as authorized participant on BlackRock bitcoin ETF. Goldman Sachs is among the new slate of authorized participants named for BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT)
DONEDEAL
Brim Financial Secures $85 Million in Series C Funding to Fuel Global Expansion. This landmark financing will fuel Brim’s U.S. expansion strategy, including extending its market reach, accelerating product development and forging strategic alliances.
Omniwire Receives a $2 Million Investment to Drive Its Innovative FinTech Solutions. This investment will accelerate Omniwire’s growth as it continues to expand its services to meet the evolving needs of clients and partners.
FinTech funding slows to the lowest level since 2017. FinTech funding slid by 16% quarter-over-quarter during the three-month period, according to CB Insights’ Q1 2024 State of Venture Report.
With Latest Funding And Scotiabank Partnership, Willful Sets Its Sights On Profitability. The technology startup set out last year to raise a Series A round, according to co-founder and CEO Erin Bury.
M&As
Empower Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Petal, and Completes Acquisition of Cashalo, to Accelerate Access to Fair Credit for Underserved Consumers.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Upfort Names Brett Sadoff as Advisor. With nearly three decades of experience in the insurance industry, Sadoff brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to Upfort’s rapidly growing team.
Ingo Payments announced Becca Best as the new Chief Financial Officer. Becca has over 12 years of Financial and Operational leadership experience in both private and publicly traded B2B SaaS companies.
Blake Taylor has also joined the Ingo Payments team as new Business Development Representative. With a passion for helping others and a background in sales development with a Fortune 500 company, Blake brings invaluable expertise and enthusiasm to the Ingo Payments team.
Klarna: 75 per cent of staff now use AI tools like ChatGPT as it looks at reducing hiring. Klarna now regularly use tools like ChatGPT, its head of artificial intelligence has told City A.M., as the BNPL giant leverages the technology to reduce hiring costs.