This Week in Fintech (10/9)

Hello Fintech Friends,
I’d be curious to hear people’s thoughts on a few recent payments practice updates.
A Canadian settlement will allow merchants to add a surcharge up to 2.4% on credit card transactions, to help them recoup lost revenue from fees. Is this defensible?
And PayPal can now withdraw up to $2,500 from SMB accounts if they’ve been found to “spread misinformation.” Does this violate financial consumer (business) protection standards? Curious to hear your thoughts.
(PS: We’re partnering with our friends at Fintech Today, Activant, Truework, and Rutter on a small Money2020 kickoff, come say hi. And - only 25 general admission tickets left to The Fintech Formal, hope to see you there!)

Please find another week of fintech exits and deep reads below.
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Rutter is a Universal API for Commerce & Accounting (’Plaid for Commerce’) that makes it easy for fintech companies (like Ramp, Mercury, Airwallex, Parafin) to read and write financial data from e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, accounting systems, and payment processors like Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Quickbooks, Xero, Stripe, Chargify, and 30+ other integrations.
Join us for a panel discussion, Unbundling The Fintech Opportunity with Marc Andrusko from a16z, on Wednesday, October 19, 2022, at 11 AM PT. Learn More

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☯️ Exits
🤝 M&A - Fintech
- ATM builder Brinks acquired NoteMachine, a network of UK ATMs, for $179 million (or 5x adjusted EBITDA).
- Humane debt collection innovator TrueML * (formerly TrueAccord) acquired the collections business of debt recovery provider Enhanced Recovery Company.
- MoneyGram acquired 12% of UAE-based payments superapp Jingle Pay.
- Embedded banking provider Q2 acquired Canadian expense management startup Sensibill.
- Crypto payments provider Circle announced that it will acquire merchant and developer-first payments orchestration platform Elements.
- Fintech venture capital firm QED acquired Lingua Franca Search, a boutique executive search firm that specializes in placing financial professionals.
- Aztec Software, an adult education software provider, acquired financial wellness education platform iGrad.
- Private equity firm SFW Capital Partners completed the sale of payroll and accounting firm Greenshades to Waypoint Capital and Gearbox Capital.
- In a surprise move, Naspers private equity arm Prosus called off the $4.7 billion acquisition of BillDesk, the Indian online merchant payments and banking provider, which it planned to incorporate into its PayU business, citing certain conditions precedent which were not fulfilled.
🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ
- French bank and merchant services provider Société Générale will acquire a majority stake in PayXpert, a UK-based provider of payment solutions for merchants, acquirers and fintechs.
- Multinational bank HSBC is considering selling its multibillion dollar Canadian retail banking division.

🌎 Fintech Around the World
SG, HK among top five fintech ecosystems globally in 2021
How India tells us Africa's future
Open banking could be what Africa needs to deepen financial inclusion
📚 Deeper Reads & Features
August 2022 - Networked Notebooks and engineering serendipity
An Unreal Primer on Real World Assets
Rohit Chopra’s second year at the CFPB could be tougher than his first
Should Robinhood, Voyager, and BlockFi sell to FTX -- a view on the industrial logic
FinTech Platforms Help Paycheck-to-Paycheck Consumers Pay off Debts
Aron Levin, CMO and co-founder of payments company Willa, wants to make creators’ finances easier
Roundtable wants to bring AngelList-style syndicates to Europe
Wall Street worries about lower income consumer, credit for fintech companies
The Crypto World Is on Edge After a String of Hacks
Small Business Needs Give Rise to Fintech-as-a-Service in North America
How The Combination Of Fintech And Web 3.0 Opens A World Of Opportunities For C-Suite Leaders
Varo’s tech unit looks to speed development, find efficiencies
Pet sitter is no match for rambunctious puppies
Have a news item for us? Reach out to news@thisweekinfintech.com
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