WorldRemit partners with Xpress Money to deliver wider service offering to diaspora communities
Digital money transfer service WorldRemit has partnered with international money transfer brand Xpress Money to open up new remittance routes to 11 countries – including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Jordan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Algeria and Lebanon. The partnership has extended WorldRemit’s footprint into new territories, and is expected to further support the growing demand for instant remittances in these countries. According to the World Bank, remittances play an important role in these economies, contributing significantly to GDP. For example, Pakistan received almost $20 billion in remittances in 2015, while Indonesia received almost $10 billion, and Bangladesh received $15 billion, or almost 10% of its GDP. WorldRemit […]
JPMorgan-backed InvestCloud buys London fintech Babel for $20 million
A London software company that helps process trades for wealth managers and stockbrokers has been snapped up by Californian fintech InvestCloud for $20 million (£16.4 million). Babel Systems, founded in 2008, helps with middle and back office processing of equities, bonds, and funds, and works with the likes of robo-advisor Nutmeg. The company’s founders and angel investors have spent around £6 million developing its product. Los Angeles-headquartered InvestCloud, founded in 2010, builds software for finance companies to help their interactions with clients online. JPMorgan is one of over 600 customers and the investment bank took and undisclosed stake in the business last September. It has raised over $100 million (£41.1 […]
Citi backs foreign exchange blockchain startup Cobalt DL
Citi has made an undisclosed investment in Cobalt DL, a London startup aiming to use the technology behind bitcoin to simplify foreign exchange trading. Cobalt DL, founded by two veteran bankers, aims to apply distributed ledger technology, also known as blockchain, to the foreign exchange trading market. Currently, when banks trade currencies with each other there are multiple different records of the transaction held by the buyer, seller, broker, clearer, and other third parties, all of which have to be reconciled. This slows the process down and adds to costs. The company aims to create a single, shared view of each transaction by using blockchain technology, which uses complex cryptography […]
WorldRemit and GTBank launch money transfer routes to West and Central Africa
Digital money transfer service WorldRemit and leading African financial institution Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) have launched new money transfer routes to West and Central Africa. With the WorldRemit app or website, people can now send secure overseas money transfers to any bank account in Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal or Togo. Funds will be deposited as CFA Francs. Commenting on the launch, Dan Shuaib, the Managing Director, of Guaranty Trust Bank CI, said: ‘’This service removes the barriers that limit customers’ access to remittances and provides them with a quick and convenient way to receive money from any part of the world. Our partnership with WorldRemit to create this […]
Trov, the world’s first on-demand insurance app for single items, launches in the UK
Trov, the company reinventing insurance for the mobile generation, today launches its world leading on-demand insurance platform in the UK, in partnership with AXA Insurance. For the first time, people in the UK can easily insure just the things they care about, entirely from the convenience of a mobile app. With a simple swipe, users are provided with a personalised quote and can quickly turn insurance on (or off) for an item without the need for any interaction with a traditional insurance agent. Items protected through Trov are covered internationally against accidental damage, loss, and theft. At launch, Trov is offering protection for common electronic items, such as laptops, mobile […]
London retailers will soon be taking payments using blockchain
Fintech company SETL has developed the card with global auditing firm Deloitte. Customers of the UK’s Metro Bank will soon be able to use a payments card that utilises blockchain technology. The card, which is being developed by Deloitte and fintech company SETL, is intended for the retail sector, the aim being to reduce the cost of processing merchant payments compared to credit and debit cards. The service could launch as soon as early 2017. SETL CEO Peter Randall said the card will update the balances of both the retailer and the customer in real-time. “What this allows people to do is to effectively make a payment from their account […]
Banks team up with their FinTech competitors
These are challenging times for the incumbent heavyweights of the financial services sector. Beset by regulatory, governance, technological, capital, and investment issues, they are increasingly facing competition for business from a whole host of new players, primarily from ‘FinTechs’. Growth of marketplace lending In the case of online lenders, this trend began in the UK in the mid-2000s when Zopa, the world’s first digital and now Europe’s largest peer-to-peer (now called marketplace) provider, launched, quickly followed by the likes of Prosper, Lending Club, and OnDeck in the US. Eleven years on, Zopa has lent around 1.8 billion pounds to more than 150,000 borrowers funded by 63,000 investors of whom 53,000 […]
