This special edition of The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup brings you more news announcements from Money 20/20 Europe in Amsterdam this week.
Mambu teams up with Western Union, Plazo and Allica Bank
Cloud banking platform Mambu unveiled a trio of new collaborations at Money 20/20 Europe this week.
Firstly, it has joined forces with Western Union to help build the cross-currency money movement firm’s new digital banking app WU+. Built on Mambu, WU+ will bring together a range of features that make it easy to move money, manage cards and view transactions. The new digital banking offering will also help Western Union transform the transactional relationships it has with customers.
Thomas Mazzaferro, chief data & innovation officer at Western Union, said: “The Mambu and Western Union team have come together in a truly collaborative partnership accelerating our financial service ambitions, while building a product that can scale and is cloud agnostic.”
Meanwhile, Mambu also revealed that its has been chosen by Spanish neobank Plazo to ‘accelerate the development of its cutting-edge lending solutions’. Customers will be able to access the new lending products through Plazo Credit S.L.U., a collaborating company created to provide credit once the integration with Mambu is completed.
Alessandro Ceschel, CEO of Plazo, said: “Leveraging Mambu’s disruptive technology and ecosystem, we will now be able to speed up the development of flexible lending solutions, thus offering customers a full-range service combination of transactional, saving and credit solutions”.
Finally, Mambu also announced at Money 20/20 Europe that Allica Bank, the fintech challenger bank for UK SMEs has gone live on its banking platform.
Richard Morgans, general manager for the UK and Ireland at Mambu, said: “Left unaddressed, SME demand for digital-age lending represents a huge missed opportunity for banks and lenders. Through a combination of in-house engineering and Mambu’s composable technology stack, Allica has been able to expedite the migration of a complex loan portfolio at impressive speed.”
Backbase unveils €120million raise
Engagement banking platform Backbase has raised €120million in growth equity funding from Motive Partners. This growth investment values Backbase at €2.5billion. Motive Partners fully supports Backbase in ‘remaining an independent force’.
Jouk Pleiter, founder and CEO of Backbase, says: “Today is a major milestone for more than 2,000 Backbasers and 150 customers around the world, to celebrate the incredible progress we made. With this partnership, we’re even better equipped to drive our engagement banking vision to the next level.
Banking Circle goes for sustainability with Money20/20 stand
A recyclable stand from 2021 featured for the Banking Circle ecosystem – Banking Circle S.A., YouLend, Biller, SEPAexpress and B4B Payments – at Money20/20 Europe.
Created and overseen by positive impact experiential agency PIE Factory, the Banking Circle stand has been designed and produced with sustainability at its core. The only new feature on the stand from last year was a bespoke light fitting made with responsibly sourced, organic cotton.
“We were delighted with our sustainable stand at Money20/20 in 2021, but this year’s stand goes even further to lessen our impact on the environment,” says Miranda McLean, global head of executive communications & ESG at Banking Circle Group. “Matching our 2021 goal of being 100 per cent virgin plastic free, it was also important to us that the waste element of the stand production didn’t lead to a high carbon footprint.”
Mastercard showcases open banking feature ‘Pay by link’
On the first day of Money 20/20 Europe, Mastercard demonstrated its latest payments feature, Pay by link, led by European open banking firm Aiia. by Mastercard.
With the feature in place, businesses from any industry are able to create a simple link that allows customers to pay instantly in any given context.
“We’re in the process of transforming the way people pay bills,” said Rune Mai, co-founder and CEO of Aiia, a Mastercard company. “With a simple link, we make it easy and secure to pay a bill on the go with a bank account without having to enter or remember payment details. With Pay by link, we give businesses the opportunity to accept and receive payments anywhere and reduce friction in the entire payment flow.”
Mastercard also announced in Amsterdam that Mastercard Send – which lets people make near real-time payments to cards worldwide – is now available in Italy. The expansion results from ongoing collaboration between Mastercard, ecommerce platform Checkout.com and Italian cryptocurrency exchange Young Platform.
Zopa joins buy now, pay later (BNPL) space
Digital bank Zopa announced at Money20/20 that it had entered the BNPL space with a suite of fully regulated products.
Zopa bank will roll-out its BNPL offering using a staggered approach that ‘carefully and closely aligns with the Treasury’s ongoing consultation in the UK’.
Its first product will offer BNPL retail finance for merchants; it will be deployed through B2BC partnerships. Then, “once new regulation comes into place”, Zopa will broaden its BNPL toolkit with a consumer offering.
Tim Waterman, chief commercial officer at Zopa, said: “Zopa is ushering in the era of BNPL 2.0, an evolution of BNPL that is regulated. We combine the seamless customer journeys and best-in-class digital UX offered by traditional BNPL players alongside the ability to underwrite longer, larger loans in a way that fully meets regulatory requirements.”
Monty Finance enters Europe with digital banking service
UK-based fintech Monty Finance unveiled a suite of fintech products in Europe at Money20/20.
Monty’s products include MyMonty, a digital banking service that allows anyone to be included in the financial system. The company also launched MontyPay, its digital payment gateway system that helps vendors to collect payments seamlessly.
Bruno Martorano, CEO of Monty Finance was quoted saying: ‘After a soft launch of our services here earlier this year we couldn’t be more delighted to now officially enter Europe. Our vision is to connect people around the globe, and this represents a huge step in that process.”
Marqeta reveals survey findings and teams up with Western Union
Marqeta, the card issuing platform, revealed new data from a survey of European consumers on their attitudes to and experiences of lending at Money20/20.
The findings suggest many consumers are frustrated with how outdated the lending industry is, saying it is a decade behind online banking. Consumers also want more clarity, with 75 per cent of respondents saying they ‘switch off’ when prospective lenders use industry jargon.
Marqeta also revealed in Amsterdam that it has teamed up with Western Union to integrate its solution into Western Union’s real-time multi-currency digital wallet and digital banking platform in Europe.
Marqeta’s open API card issuing platform will allow Western Union to manage the complex payment card issuing and processing workflow and give Western Union real-time insights into its customers’ card activity.