This week in Fintech: TFT Bi-Weekly News Roundup 03/01

welcome to Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup Tuesday, January 3, 2023 brings you the latest hiring and partnership updates.

The job is moving

thrive, the multi-asset investment platform, has appointed Dennis Austinat as its new DACH region MD. Based in the new Frankfurt office, Austinat will help grow the business in the region. Trive also recently opened an office in Madrid, as part of its expansion plans.

Engagement bank fintech Background appoints Mark Appel as marketing manager. He was most recently CMO for CM.com. Appel will be responsible for supporting growth at Backbase as well as driving brand recognition. Backbase is also a recent hire Markwin Geneste as commercial manager and Roland Booijen as daily manager for ecosystems.

Online pension provider PensionBee hires Becky O’Connor as director of public affairs. She was most recently head of pensions and savings at Interactive investor, the investment platform. O’Connor is also chairman of the ethics advisory committee for Castlefield Investment Management.

Fast appoints Stephen Grainger as managing director for the Americas and the UK. He was most recently executive director in MasterCard, which leads the development and commercialization of its global cross-border services business. Grainger will drive the region’s overall direction and growth.

Partnership

LHV UKa provider of banking services to fintechs, has provided consultancy in risk and data science Jaywing with creating its cloud-based data infrastructure. Jaywing will establish a data infrastructure and reporting package in line with UK regulatory standards as well as optimize LHV UK’s AWS-based data infrastructure for regulatory reporting.

National bonds, a UAE Shari’a compliant savings and investment company owned by Investment Corporation of Dubai, has entered into cooperation with Lulu Exchange. The partnership gives customers and employees the opportunity to embark on and accelerate their savings journey.

Digitt+, Pakistan’s first agriculture-focused fintech, has approval to pilot its Electronic Money Institution (EMI). Digitt+ is powered by Akhtar Fuiou Technologies (AFT). It has partnered with FuiouPay, a payment solutions provider, to offer a market-based alternative to the traditional banking system.

Start of fraud prevention iDenfy has entered into cooperation with mano.bank, the Lithuanian-based bank. iDenfy helps mano.bank quickly onboard customers with a four-step ID verification process. mano.bank says the partnership means users can enjoy a “secure, digitized customer onboarding experience”.

Industry updates

The Mauritius Africa FinTech Hub (MAFH), with the sponsorship of Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), held its first national FinTech Ideation competition. The event was part of MAFH’s Future FinTech Champions programme, a competence and capacity building initiative designed to grow future leaders of the fintech sector.

Singlife has been appointed as official insurer for Ministry of Defense (MINDEF) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) Group insurance. It provides life and personal accident insurance for all MINDEF and MHA personnel.

Meanwhile, WadzPay has launched a digital customer support facility for customers worldwide. The new platform allows customers to log support calls on their own using a pre-designated login ID created by the WadzPay team. After that, the status of the support calls is automatically updated when other support personnel attend to the problem and end the call.

The Bureau Business Center (The Bureau), The UAE’s first purpose-built women-focused co-working space is now open in Dubai’s Gold & Diamond Park. It is co-founded by sisters who grew up in Dubai Nikita and Rhea Patel to create a distinct space that is welcoming, supportive and encourages women to share space, aspirations and energy.

Financing and investments

Technical investor Clive Mayhew has invested AU$1.2 million to launch Play today, a Web3 golf company. Play Today has developed a consumer digital wallet integrated into a golf scoring app, a golf NFT marketplace and a golf metaverse.

Lending and distribution platform SarvaGram has closed its $35 million Series C round. Investors included Elevar Equity, Elevation Capital, Temasek and TVS Capital fund participated. SarvaGram plans to expand its distribution network as well as its on-ground franchisees.