Category: Doing Business Overseas

Citizens saw increasing digital engagement during the second quarter as the bank boosted its technology investments. The Providence, R.I.-based bank spent $163 million on equipment and software in Q2, an 8% year-over-year increase, according to today’s earnings presentation. Active mobile users jumped by 1.93 million, a 21% YoY increase. Customers continue to favor digital check…

Mastercard announced a multi-year strategic alliance with quantum computing leader D-Wave. The partnership will explore applications for quantum computing technology in financial services. D-Wave builds both annealing and gate-model quantum computers, the only firm in the world to do so. Will quantum computing take the place of crypto in terms of the fintech zeitgeist? Mastercard…

Truist and Ally Financial both made strategic investments in technology and talent during the second quarter to accelerate growth and servicing. “We have continued to invest in talent and technology to enhance our servicing and collection capabilities and remain confident in our ability to effectively manage credit in a variety of environments,” Ally Chief Financial…

Greg Palmer and the Finovate Podcast have spent much of the first half of 2022 featuring Best of Show winners from FinovateEurope and FinovateSpring. Be sure to check out our podcast columns from the spring and summer for any Best of Show interviews you haven’t seen yet. You also may not have caught some of…

Fundrise is launching a $1 billion growth equity fund called the Fundrise Innovation Fund. The new VC-like fund will facilitate crowdsourced investments in private technology companies. The move is Fundrise’s first significant expansion outside of private real estate. Alternative investment firm Fundrise was originally founded to give retail investors access to invest in private real estate.…

Bank of America’s efforts to boost its digital tools are paying off, and the $3.1 trillion bank plans to continue its technology investments amid increased customer adoption of the bank’s digital tools. The bank invested in and implemented $800 million in technology in the second quarter, Chief Financial Officer Alastair Borthwick said during today’s earnings…

Global technology partner program Mastercard Engage announced the addition of open banking to its platform last week to bring secure connectivity and onboarding processes to its partners. Mastercard Engage, an application programming interface (API)-driven platform, connects businesses with technology partners to build, launch or grow payments solutions, according to a Mastercard statement. Through its connections,…

Wealth management solutions provider Orion Advisor Solutions has closed two acquisitions in recent weeks. The Omaha, Nebraska-based fintech closed its acquisition of CRM company Redtail Technology in June, and finished its acquisition of investment and trading platform TownSquare Capital in July. Terms were not disclosed about either transaction. Orion Advisor Solutions made its Finovate debut…

Crypto has had a turbulent year from an investment standpoint. In May, the market collapsed, with extremely volatile trends and Bitcoin dropping into the teens. However, widespread retail adoption of crypto payments is already happening with big brands and SMEs joining. Gucci, Balenciaga, Alo Yoga, and Tag Heuer are some of the brands that have announced…

Lending automation platform and decision management solution and services provider TurnKey Lender has secured $10 million in new funding. The amount raised represents a blend of both equity financing and debt. Led by OTB Ventures, the round featured participation from German development finance institution DEG and Vertex Ventures. TurnKey Lender will use the additional capital…