This week in Fintech: TFT Bi-Weekly News Roundup 16/03

There are new partnerships and leadership hires for fintechs including GoCardless, Thunes and Zafin i Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup Thursday March 16.

Partnership

Cross-border payment platform CurrencyFair has merged with international payment company Thunes. Through this partnership, Thunes will support CurrencyFair in offering its money transfer services in 25 new currencies, including the Mexican peso. The next eight currencies on the way include the Vietnamese dong, Brazilian real, Colombian peso, Japanese yen, South Korean won, Costa Rican colón, Malaysian ringgit and Guatemalan quetzal.

Acquinex have chosen mea to automate the processing of submissions. It sees the company leveraging mea’s platform to automate the filing process for submissions as well as increase due diligence. For Acquinex, mea’s technology will strengthen its reputation as a major digital MGA, offering specialist warranty services in the global market.

Fintech lending platform Vergent LMS will now offer advanced verification services and streamlined lending processes with its partner Decision logic. The cooperation gives lenders the opportunity to verify a borrower’s identity, bank account number and balance in real time.

Mashreq has launched its NEOBiz Connect API integration with strategic partner Virtuzone. NEOBiz Connect allows any free zone or trade licensing authority to submit a complete NEOBiz account application from its own platform, enabling a one-click SME account, subject to approval, for the first time in the region.

Faster has joined with Wix.com. The partnership delivers Forter’s ability to accurately review transactions, in real-time, to Wix sellers in certain countries – increasing their approval rates, reducing fraud and delivering a superior customer experience.

Saudi fintech Okay sign an agreement with Visa to improve microfinance capacity. It says the partnership will contribute to the development of “innovative, efficient and reliable microfinance solutions”. Tamam became the first Saudi company to receive a consumer microfinance license in the Kingdom from the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA).

More partnerships

PERXa Norwegian P2P crowdlending platform, has entered into a partnership with Neonomy. Through this partnership, PERX enables open bank payments on its platform through Neonomics’ open bank Checkout solution, to increase the efficiency and security of its payments. Through open banking, PERX can provide end users with an easier way to deposit money that they invest in loans on the PERX platform.

liminal, a digital wallet infrastructure platform, has been appointed by an Indian investigative agency to securely manage seized digital assets without custody. As part of this association, Liminal will allow the agency to securely store digital assets, which it seizes during investigations.

GoCardless has integrated with Zapier to help businesses save time and energy when managing their payments. Businesses can now build Zaps – Zapier’s automated workflows – for GoCardless. This eliminates manual work for routine and repetitive tasks, such as creating a new payment mandate or tracking failed payments. Zapier’s platform includes over 5,000 apps.

Meanwhile, Swiss software company Netcetera supports Digital Payments Group (DPG) with digital solutions to ensure the service of its issuing bank customers. This future-focused partnership aims for easier customer adoption of PSD2-ready solutions.

It is also a partnership for IT companies Trifork and modular provider of core banking technology Thum. Together, they will provide a tailored card and financing platform for the Danish financial institution Sparxpres, portion of Save North. The agreement covers the establishment of the platform and five years of subsequent development and operational support.

Appointments

Socurea provider of digital identity verification and fraud solutions, is hiring Ayesha Prakash as head of public partnerships. Prakash will lead and grow Socure’s alliance and partnership ecosystem. Most recently, she served as Global Vice President of Technology Partnerships and Alliances at KELA.

Claus Schünemann have joined Zafin, SaaS cloud-based product and pricing platform. He is the new president of EMEA and India. Schünemann will lead growth and customer acquisition efforts across the region, as well as oversee customer onboarding and engagement. Before joining Zafin, Schünemann served as Vice President of Sales EMEA at ActiveViam.

Alternative financing provider Accelerated payments name C Ray Hines as vice president for business development. The new hire continues Accelerated Payments’ expansion into North America, bringing with it local expertise in the area. Laurie Ford also recently joined the team as vice president of business development in Canada.

More employment

Supervisory body for salad projects, which advocates on behalf of applicants for consumer credit, has appointed two new communal chairs. Lord McNicol of West Kilbride (Ap) and Baroness Evans of Bowes Park (Conservative) join. The body’s mission is to work in the interests of all applicants to Salad Money, a social enterprise which fights against financial exclusion and exploitation of NHS and public sector workers by offering an alternative to high-cost loans.

Ingenicoa company for payment acceptance solutions, appoints Laurent Blanchard as president and managing director, as well as a member of the supervisory board. Before joining Ingenico, Blanchard served as CEO of Cegid. He will lead Ingenico’s efforts to accelerate its transformation and drive its products forward.

Cash flows name Philip Harding as director of account development. He joined Cashflows after more than 12 years at Barclaycard Payments, where he became Director of International Corporates. In this role, Philip focused on financial services and insurance, and followed various roles in issuance and procurement. Philip also has previous experience from FedEx, where he held the position of National Business Development Executive.

Company updates

Australia’s climate action ecosystem Greenhouse has been awarded $29 million from the City of Sydney to support the opening of the Greenhouse Climate Tech Hub over three floors in the new Salesforce Tower in Circular Quay, Sydney. Applications for membership of the Greenhouse Climate Tech Hub (which opens its doors in July) are now open.

The Financial Technology Association (FTA) has welcomed banking-as-a-service companies Synapse as its newest member. It is also the first BaaS manager to join the association. FTA represents leaders of digitally native financial services that offer credit, payments, data aggregation, digital investment advice and other financial products to consumers and businesses.

Archie, a next-generation payments and data platform, has launched with a promise to support UK businesses, including underserved SMEs, while educating consumers about the huge potential of open banking. Archie’s platform powers an easy-to-use solution that enables its partners, including SMBs and larger enterprises, to create consent-driven payment and data experiences.

The Sharjah Research and Technology Innovation Park Accelerator, established to incubate businesses, has opened an office in Dubai. SRTIP is a free zone with a mandate to establish companies with a special research-based focus in six areas: water management, renewable energy, environmental technology, transport and logistics, digitization and smart production.

Financing

Flat6Labs, MENA’s leading seed investor launched a new $95 million seed fund to nurture the growth and development of early-stage technology startups on the African continent. Flat6Labs has invested more than $16 million in startups, as well as raised $191 million in follow-on funding. It has also created more than 2,500 direct jobs and 80,000 indirect jobs through its first two funds in Egypt and Tunisia.

Mergers and acquisitions

Synalcom, the French provider of electronic payment solutions and services, has merged with mobile-first payments fintech Qori. The new company – Sylq – provides businesses with an integrated payment offering, supporting card, bank transfer and cryptocurrency purchases on any payment terminal or Android and iOS device, while enabling remote and online payments. Sylq will also supply, adapt, support and maintain terminals across Europe.