This Week in Fintech UK & Europe (21/03)

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Funding πΈ
There were 6 deals in the fintech space across the UK and Europe since the last post, with a total investment of $200m. Some highlights are below.
πͺπΊ Payments platform Payrails raised a $6.4m round led by a16z.
π¬π§ Playter raised a $1.7m seed round co-led by Fin Capital and 1818 Ventures.
π¬π§ Oakbrook Finance raised Β£142m from Atalaya Capital, Hive Learning and JP Morgan.
π Bain Capital Ventures launched a $560m crypto fund.
π ConsenSys raised a $450m Series D from Softbank, Microsoft, Temasek and others.
π Singapore Regtech outfit Silent Eight raised a $40m Series B led by HSBC.
Challenger Banking π
πͺπΊ UK fintech leaders are meeting in Belfast for the first Northern Ireland Fintech Symposium, hosted by FinTech NI.
πͺπΊ Stock plan management platform Global Shares has been sold to JP Morgan.
πͺπΊ Fellow Finance is closing its P2P product and will focus exclusively on becoming banking.
π¬π§ Revolut successfully raised β¬10m for Red Cross Ukraine from its customers and matched the donation itself. It also hired Victor Stopa to run its German business.
π¬π§ Flux expanded its Flux Offers platform with a partnership with Fidel API.
π Fractional alternative asset marketplace Otis has been acquired by Public.com.
Digital Assets βΏ
πͺπΊ The EU has rejected a plan to ban proof of work crypto mining whilst approving the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA) proposals.
π¬π§ Revolut CRO Alan Chang is setting up a crypto firm and is seeking to raise $100m.
π¬π§ HSBC is partnering with The Sandbox, a metaverse startup, to develop new experiences on a plot of land that it has Β purchased.
π Β Yuga Labs, the group behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club, has acquired the IP behind CryptoPunks and Meebits, creating an NFT powerhouse.
π Β Luno, the exchange bought by Digital Currency Group, has launched a crypto and web3 investment arm.
π Meta is planning on bringing NFTs to Instagram.
π The Terra community is divided on how its Anchor protocol maintains its high yield payouts of 20%.
Traditional Banking π¦
πͺπΊ Bank of Ireland is hiring 100 new tech staff as it accelerates its digital transformation project.
πͺπΊ German savings banks and Volksbanks are switching their Girocards from the outgoing Maestro system to Mastercard co-branded cards.
πͺπΊ An AML pilot among 9 Estonian banks organised by Salv, an Estonian regtech, prevented β¬3m making it into the hands of criminals through data sharing.
πͺπΊ Santander was forced to compensate clients for restricting access to online banking to those with a mobile phone.
π¬π§ NatWest is utilising AWS to help understand its customer data to better anticipate their needs.
π¬π§ HSBC are launching video calls for new investors as part of its My Investment service whilst also closing 69 more branches.
π¬π§ TSB customers have reported duplicated payments being taken from their accounts.
Payments π°
π¬π§ Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) came into effect this week in the UK which will require 2-step verification for online purchases of over β¬30.
π¬π§ Citizens Advice found that 8% of people turned to BNPL to cover basic purchases like food and toiletries in the past six months.
π¬π§ Hargreaves Lansdown is partnering with US payment company Bottomline to utilise its cloud-based payment platform to receive and distribute client funds.
π¬π§ After last yearβs increase in contactless limit increased from Β£45 to Β£100, the average contactless spend has increased 30%.
π American Express has filed trademarks for its logos and products which indicate plans for NFTs and cryptocurrency services.
Regulatory Corner π
πͺπΊ German prosecutors have charged Wirecard executive Markus Braun in relation to the firms collapse last year.
π¬π§ The FCA are shutting all crypto ATMs in the UK.
π¬π§ The CMA has clarified the uses for Sweeping which exclude e-commerce purchases, moving money to accounts to purchase crypto or FX or investment products.
Longer reads π
- Facebook Libra: the inside story of how the companyβs cryptocurrency dream died - Hannah Murphy and Kiran Stacey
- The coming boom in metaverse lending for banks - Ron Shevlin
- Flow: The Normie blockchain - Packy McCormick
- AngelList: A Venture Constellation - Mario Gabriele
- Plaid: Data layer to payments layer - Byrne Hobart
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See yout week!

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