The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup
Partnerships
Fintech provider Larky has signed a partnership agreement with Gerber Federal Credit Union. In partnership with Connect FSS, Gerber FCU plans to launch Larky’s nudge push notifications to bolster member engagement and deliver targeted messages tailored to their needs.
Shieldpay, the B2B payments firm, has teamed up with payment service provider Mollie. The partnership enables Shieldpay clients to have their payments needs fully digitised, from routine payments requiring straight-through processing up to high value, complex B2B transactions.
Tonga Development Bank (TDB), the longest serving bank in the Kingdom since 1977, has chosen European paytech BPC to be its HA’AMO 2 (solution partner), helping to accelerate digital transformation in the Polynesian banking sector.
A new partnership between Thales and fintech Handsome has led to the creation of a new voice payment card to protect visually impaired people. The card vocalises the amount of each transaction before its validation. The technology has already been certified by Visa and Mastercard.
There’s also a partnership for Alpian, Switzerland’s first digital private bank, and Napier. Napier will supply Alpian with its full suite of financial crime compliance technology solutions through its intelligent compliance platform, Napier Continuum. This offers full AI-enhanced risk management capabilities across the entire risk profile of Alpian customers.
Funding and investment
Sunbit has closed a $250million revolving debt facility with Credit Suisse and Waterfall Asset Management. The new debt facility further diversifies Sunbit’s financing sources and supports its continued growth in POS loans as well the Sunbit Card.
Norwegian proptech startup Speiz has raised €1.3million in seed funding round led by F-LOG Ventures Startseite. The funding will enable Speiz to continue establishing its SaaS-enabled marketplace for commercial warehouse real estate in Norway and expand its reach across Europe.
UK challenger bank Allica Bank has bagged £100million in Series C funding in a round led by TCV, supported by Warwick Capital Partners and Atalaya Capital Management. It will use the funding to continue scaling. In addition to lending, the bank also offers savings accounts, asset finance, commercial mortgages and personal savings accounts.
Company updates
Banking-as-a-service provider Contis retires its brand and becomes Solaris. The partnership was introduced in early 2022 and the rebrand is the latest in the combined firms being the most comprehensive banking-as-a-service provider in Europe. The 750-strong team across Europe and Asia now has a full suite of regulatory licenses across the EEA and UK.
Cryptocurrency operator Circle has decided to end a $9billion SPAC deal with Concord Acquisition Corp, nearly 10 months after their earlier agreement. Both companies have approved the move. Concord had until 10 December to finalise the deal to buy Circle, something that would have taken the fintech public on the New York Stock Exchange.
Appointments
KlariVis, an enterprise dashboard and analytics solution for bankers, hires Bobby Guilliams as director of IT. Since the start of the year, KlariVis has significantly expanded its internal team as demand for its platform increases. In 2022, the company has more than doubled its client base.
Fintech Hi Group has appointed Lee Cullinane to the position of general counsel. He will play a critical role in the company’s expansion providing strategic legal advice on all aspects of the business operation including governance, corporate and institutional legal matters.
Fintech Broadridge Financial Solutions appoints Martin Koopman as chief product officer. The role, which starts in Janauary, involves overseeing Broadridge’s enterprise product vision and strategy, building enterprise-wide platforms to benefit Broadridge clients, empowering product management teams, as well as accelerating innovation.
Fintech platform Airwallex has appointed Kai Wu as chief revenue officer and APAC general manager. Wu has held a number of senior positions at Airwallex for close to five years, including as chief financial officer. Airwallex also has plans to rapidly accelerate its growth globally and in APAC in 2023.
Tech provider Lendscape has unveiled a new advisory board. Members include Martin Morrin as chairman, Steve Box and Peter Hunt. Their guidance will help the company to refine its strategy, prioritise innovations and connect with new customers and partners.
More job moves
Zumo, the Edinburgh-based crypto platform, has hired Vicky Byrom as its first chief data and analytics officer. She will build the company’s data and analytics capabilities to a best-in-class standard. She will also be responsible for establishing a data governance committee to map data across the business.
Image and article originally from thefintechtimes.com. Read the original article here.