Albo to Reach Profitability in a Few Months After $60 Million Credit Facility

👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT

• HSBC UK simplifies loan application for International customers.

HSBC UK is making its mortgages more accessible for international homebuyers by introducing technology that makes it easier to leverage credit history from a previous location when applying for a mortgage.

As newcomers to the UK and international customers often face roadblocks and delays when trying to leverage their overseas credit history to apply for loans, HSBC UK has launched an initiative allowing international applicants to retrieve their credit history for a UK mortgage application.

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📰ARTICLE OF THE WEEK

• Thailand’s digital banking applicants.

NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS

🔦 DIGITAL BANKING HIGHLIGHTS

⭐️ FinTech Albo to reach profitability in a few months after $60 million credit facility.

⭐️ Nubank expands working capital offerings for SMEs, sees 150% growth in loan volume.

⭐️ Hong Kong to rename ‘virtual banks’ to ‘digital banks’.

⭐️ Emerge Raises $12m To Redefine Banking.

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🌎 REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS

UK 🇬🇧

Revolut takes on Square and SumUp with payment terminal for larger businesses. The London-based banking firm is set to roll out a device, called Revolut Terminal, in the UK and Ireland ahead of the busy festive season in a push to grow its business-to-business offering.

Lloyds performs “groundbreaking” digital node-to-node transactions. The bank has completed a series of digital transactions alongside Mercore Capital unearthing new use cases for digital cross-border payments. Discover more

AperiData introduces credit score fully powered by open banking. AperiScore will enable lenders to move beyond the boundaries of traditional CRA data, allowing them to score all applicants accurately in real-time, including those with limited credit history or thin credit files. 

The bank named in more fraud complaints than any major UK competitor. Online bank Revolut has been named in more fraud complaints than any major UK banks last year, with some customers questioning how much they were protected from scammers.

Standard Chartered launches RFQ module. The digital request for quote (RFQ) module allows clients to request pricing quotations for their letters of credit (LCs) confirmation and discounting/negotiation, and receive a digital response on demand, from anywhere and at any time.

Metro Bank plans to collaborate with Pexa to improve the speed and ease of the remortgaging process. The aim of the collaboration is to improve the speed of post-offer processes, remortgage completion times and greater transparency for the bank’s customers and brokers.

Monzo is launching a subscription plan to help its business customers simplify their expense administration, as the UK challenger bank tops 500,000 business customers. The new business plan features transparent blue expense cards for businesses to track receipts, expense reasons, and VAT in the Monzo app.

John Lewis partners with Zopa to boost personal loan offering. The bank will be integrated into the John Lewis Money website, offering personalized loan quotes in three minutes without affecting credit scores, and most customers will receive their funds within two hours of approval.

More than 50 former Monzo employees petition board to be included in share sale. A group of 58 former employees at the UK neobank signed a letter to its board, requesting inclusion in the secondary transaction. Many signatories, among the company's earliest staff, claim their contributions were vital in its initial growth.

EUROPE 🇪🇺

Revolut launches eSIMs in New Zealand, a seamless way to avoid unexpected roaming charges. Revolut eSIM allows customers to get mobile data abroad, and stay connected without unexpected roaming charges and interruptions. Read on

Deutsche Bank goes live on new correspondent banking system, dbx, which will give financial institutions (FI clients) access to new and enhanced functionalities designed to better leverage the bank’s thought leadership, investment and extensive global network.

Cross-border payments FinTech Ebury wants to fill a business banking gap. The firm has opened a New Zealand office and targets medium-sized firms, particularly importers and exporters, offering cross-border payment services, including foreign currency hedging and lending. 

Solaris to lay off a third of workforce with the majority of job losses hitting its British subsidiary Contis. Earlier this month, the German Banking-as-a-Service company announced a major transformation program, which includes discontinuing its EMI and embedded finance business, Solaris SE.

N26 further strengthens offer in 12 new markets with launch of Stocks and ETFs Trading. With its new product, N26 allows its customers to invest in fractional shares of hundreds of the most popular European and US assets on global equity markets with as little as 1 EUR.

Hungarian branch of Revolut opening postponed, MNB worried. Hungary’s National Bank (NBH) stated that Revolut’s Hungarian clients “deserve a domestic bank.” While urging the launch of a local Revolut branch, the NBH noted that such a branch wouldn’t be covered by the National Deposit Insurance Fund (OBA).

USA 🇺🇸

GM and Barclays sign long-term credit card partnership agreement. The collaboration will help expand Barclays' credit card footprint in the U.S. As part of the agreement, Barclays will acquire the card program's receivables from the current issuer next year.

Citi launches Token Services for Cash for institutional clients. The service is expected to facilitate multi-million-dollar transactions for Citi’s institutional clients, providing 24/7 cross-border liquidity and payments between participating Citi branches. 

Tuum teams up with Zenus Bank to introduce global BaaS. Zenus Bank went live with Tuum’s Accounts and Payments modules integrated with its technology and existing vendors. The partnership marks a significant step in Zenus Bank’s mission to democratize access to U.S. banking services on a global scale.

Treasury Prime expands compliance tools with Greenlite partnership. This allows banks within Treasury Prime’s network to improve their anti-money laundering (AML) and risk management efforts by automating repetitive tasks. Continue reading

The OCC has filed an enforcement action against Axiom Bank in Florida. The action was filed due to suspicious activity, insufficient compliance with Bank Security Act and anti-money laundering practices, and poor risk management from the bank. 

ASIA

AFS and Zand Bank partner to empower FinTechs in MENA. This collaboration aims to provide FinTechs and emerging players with AFS’s processing services and Zand Bank’s BIN Sponsorship and banking facilities, enabling them to issue prepaid cards and other banking solutions quickly and easily.

CIH BANK selects Backbase to elevate digital banking across Morocco. Through this collaboration, CIH BANK aims to deepen customer relationships by offering segment-based solutions and seamless access to the targeted financial services when they are needed most.

Siam Commercial Bank launches stablecoin-based cross-border payments. The bank recently launched Thailand's first cross-border payments solution using stablecoins—digital assets pegged to gold or the dollar—in a bid to strengthen the country's regional leadership in banking and financial innovation.

Techcombank partners with Databricks for optimised banking solutions. This new collaboration represents a part of Techcombank’s significant investments in digital, data, and digital talent under its 2021-2025 transformation plan. The strategy is expected to also drive faster and more profitable growth for the bank. 

DBS CEO says only half of banks are making enough tech progress. The head of Singapore’s biggest lender said only about half of the banking industry has made sufficient progress in transforming their businesses to embrace digitalization and artificial intelligence.

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

Backbase appoints Tim Rutten as Chief Marketing Officer. As CMO, Rutten will lead Backbase's global marketing strategy, focusing on brand positioning, demand generation, and strengthening the company's leadership in digital banking transformation during a key growth period.

Microsoft banking lead Lilia Christofi joins PwC as partner. Christofi has joined PwC to lead the consulting firm's Financial Services Data and AI Consulting Team. She previously worked at Accenture and PwC in Australia before joining Microsoft in the UK, where she pioneered AI projects for European banking.