2020 Fintech Milestones

Two European payments giants, Worldline and Ingenico, merged in a $8.6 billion deal to create the fourth-largest company in the payment space

HighRadius, a SaaS Fintech firm, partnered with Genpact to help companies automate accounts receivable and treasury processes

Fintech unicorn Airwallex partnered with Visa to introduce a borderless card for businesses

Mastercard announced the development of a cutting-edge European cybersecurity centre to address cyber threats faced by European financial institutions

LendingClub acquired Radius Bank for $185 million in the first fintech takeover of a regulated US bank

The acquisition would enable LendingClub to create a digitally native marketplace with the power to deliver an integrated customer experience.

UK Fintech Paysend launched Global Account, an international multi-currency account for European users

Intuit acquired Credit Karma for $7.1 billion

The global financial platform Revolut raised $500 million in its Series D fundraising to increase daily engagements and profitability

UK-based Fintech B-Social raised £7.8 million in seed funding to become a full-fledged bank with a new name, Kroo

It has brought the total capital raised by B-Social to £13.25 million, as the company continues the journey to becoming a fully licensed bank. B-Social allows users to make purchases, share and keep track of expenses with family and friends.

Fiserv acquired MerchantPro Express as part of a broader strategy to expand the merchant services business

China’s Ant Financial acquired a minority stake in Swedish split payments Fintech Klarna

Visa partnered with the Nigeria-based startup Paga to bring payments technology to Africa

Founded in 2009, Paga has created a multi-channel payments network for more than 14 million users in Nigeria to transfer money, make payments and shop online. This partnership would give users the ability to transact on Visa’s global network.

German payments company Wirecard partnered with Sweden’s FinTech startup Klarna for integrated payments

Standard Chartered debuted Banking as a Service solution, called Nexus

The solution would allow digital platforms, eCommerce portals, social media sites and other companies to offer banking services like loans, credit cards, and savings accounts under their own brand name.

Fiserv acquired Bypass Mobile an independent software vendor to enhance its omni-commerce experience

One of the largest business lenders in Europe, iwoca, announced OpenLending platform for banks and Fintechs to enable better access to finance

Related insights: Alternative Finance is Driving European Lending Market

Banking technology company Finastra was hacked and forced to shut down key systems

London-based Fintech Revolut launched its app-based digital-only bank in the US

Chinese smartphone company OnePlus launched its mobile payment platform in China

European open banking platform Tink acquired Spanish account aggregation provider Eurobit Technologies

Australia-based neo bank Judo secured $500m government funding to distribute in loans to SMEs amid the coronavirus pandemic

Related insights: SMEs benefit from Open Banking revolution in current times

Financial services technology leader FIS partnered with lenders to speed COVID-19 relief fund for SMBs under Paycheck Protection Program

The Payroll Protection Program (PPP) authorizes lenders (banks, credit unions) to provide up to $349 billion in funds to U.S. small businesses and merchants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

San Francisco-based finance company SoFi acquired Galileo Financial Technologies in a deal valued over $1 billion

Mastercard partnered with Uber Eats to provide free meals to UK medical staff amidst the COVID-19 crisis

Related insights: The impact of COVID-19 on the Fintech industry

Mastercard partnered with CRM start up, vcita in Europe to launch “Business Unusual” platform to enable SMEs to operate in a more digital first environment

Money transfer company Western Union expanded its global network for payments and transfers to select banks and wallets in 50 countries

Silicon Valley-based Fintech Taulia Partnered with J.P. Morgan to develop a new trade finance solution to help businesses with better liquidity

Banco Santander acquired a 50.1% stake in a UK-based payments platform Ebury in a $453 million deal

Conferma Pay launches Visa-powered virtual card payments globally through their mobile app to promote contactless payments

Related insights: Blockchain for secure contactless payments amidst the crisis

FinTech startup unicorn Brex raised $150 million in a Series C funding round

Open banking platform Tink integrated multi-banking features in Nordea’s banking app

Tink’s account aggregation, data enrichment and personal financial management technologies were integrated into Nordea’s mobile banking app to deliver a personalised financial overview for the bank’s Nordic customers.

London-based FinTech Revolut announced that it will integrate its products with Clear Books to offer accounting software for small businesses

World’s first money laundering monitoring game released ‘Catch Them If You Can’ to help professionals test their compliance skills

Rapyd, a global Fintech as a Service company, launched an all-in-one integrated payment solution for businesses in UK

Mastercard launched Fintech Express to empower European startups to launch and expand quickly

Finastra announced a strategic partnership with Hundsun Technologies to co-develop and its investment management software, Fusion Invest

WhatsApp launched its own payment service in Brazil

More than 40 different FinTechs, digital currency companies and nonprofits together formed Open Payments Coalition to launch PayID, the Universal ID for Payments

Related insights: The beginning of the end of Paper Money

Zopa granted a full bank license in the UK

IBMC joined hands with US Gold Currency Inc and Blockfills to launch the world’s first gold-backed digital currency

MoneyGram partnered with Digital Financial Services to offer eWallet services in UAE

US-based The Peoples Community Bank expanded its partnership with Finastra to roll out new services with better speed

Opera announced investment in and agreement to acquire Fjord Bank

Revolut launched Open Banking for its more than one million customers in France

Related insights: How will Open Banking impact the market for lending

Telecom and mobile money services company Airtel Africa partnered with WorldRemit for instant money transfer services expansion across Africa

Deutsche Bank announced plans to invest in Germany-based fintech Traxpay

Romania-based fintech PayByFace launched a biometric facial recognition-based payments system in Bucharest

Mastercard and Microsoft announced a collaboration to accelerate innovation across digital commerce and startup ecosystems

NatWest brought Apple Pay support to its Business credit card customers to promote contactless payments

Mexico-based fintech, Tauros and Visa partnered to launch a debit card with crypto cashbacks

American Express announced to acquire Kabbage for $850 million

US-based fintech Cred.ai launched AI-powered credit card

Related insights: Five Ways Artificial Intelligence is Accelerating Growth in Fintech

Singapore’s Monetary Authority of Singapore pledged to invest USD 182 million to drive innovation in fintech

JPMorgan Chase and Commonwealth announced a two-year initiative to address challenges and opportunities in emerging technologies

Railsbank announced to buy UK-based Wirecard Card Solutions

Modulr became the.first non-bank to launch Confirmation of Payee, a fraud prevention initiative spearheaded by Pay.UK

Neon Pagamentos, a Brazilian fintech, secured a Series C investment of $300 million

Intellect Design Arena, a financial technology provider joined Banking Industry Architecture Network (BIAN) to support API-driven banking technology framework

Modulr became a principal issuing member of Mastercard

Mastercard, N-Frnds, SGeBIZ and Finastra partnered with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to provide funds for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Asia

Payoneer launched cross-border payments solution for banks

The program already includes partnerships with ten banks and e-wallets in ten countries, with many more in talks.

Open banking platform Tink acquired UK-based OpenWrks' aggregation platform

Fintech unicorn Airwallex raised US$40 million, taking the company to a Series D funding round of USD 200 million

Open Banking reached 2 mln UK-based users

Related insights: Open Banking and PSD2 will Push Innovation

Huawei partnered with digital payments provider Mondia Pay to offer contactless payments in the MEA region

Bank of America announced its plan to roll out a digital financial planning tool

Life Plan, the tool by Bank of America, allows customers to set multiple goals like buying a home, improving credit, or saving for retirement, and uses its existing trove of client data to serve them recommendations.

Razer Fintech and Visa unveiled new prepaid card to transform digital payments for youths and millennials in Singapore

B2B fintech Tipalti raised $150 million to automate payment workflows with AI

Related insights: Five Ways Artificial Intelligence is Accelerating Growth in Fintech

Fiserv partnered with Zelle, a US-based digital payments network, to advance P2P payments to more than 200 banks and credit unions

Indian payment processor Razorpay raised USD 100 million in series D funding

Bankify, a Nordic-based fintech, partnered with Neonomics to offer boost their financial applications with the power of Open Banking

Related insights: PSD2 - Opening Doors for Innovation

expressPay launched myQR Code platform for cashless payments in Ghana

UK-based bank Virgin Money partnered with Strands to launch a free, full money management solution to support SMEs with their financial operations

Cambodia officially launched central bank digital currency (CBDC)

The e-money "Bakong" is built on blockchain technology designed by Soramitsu, a Japanese company.

UK-based Lloyds Bank partnered with working capital fintech Demica to provide a supply chain finance platform for UK businesses

BNB, a Canada-based fintech, launched new remittance services for Liberia, Africa

i2c partnered with Purewrist to provide wearable solutions for contactless payments

Partnership brings innovative new contactless payment options to market for tap-and-go transactions.

Rapyd launched first cross-border fraud prevention solution for all payment methods

Related insights: Scams on rise amidst the COVID-19 outbreak

LexisNexis® Risk Solutions and UK fintech startup Nuggets teamed up to enable the implementation of self-sovereign digital identity (SSI) solutions

Self-sovereign identity (SSI) represents the way personal data is owned, shared and controlled; consumers choose when their data and identity documents are accessed and by whom.

Neobank Daylight launched an LGBTQ+ digital banking platform in the US

Satispay, an Italy-based fintech raised €93 million in a Series C funding round

Visa announced a collaboration with India-based ICICI Bank on its Visa in a Box programme for fintech acceleration

India-based fintech Razorpay partnered with PayPal to enable international payments for Indian MSMEs and freelancers

BIS, Swiss National Bank and SIX announced successful wholesale CBDC experiment

The Bank for International Settlements' Innovation Hub (BISIH) Swiss Centre, the Swiss National Bank (SNB) and the financial infrastructure operator SIX today announced the successful completion of a joint proof-of-concept experiment that integrates tokenized digital assets and central bank money.

Related insights: Europe’s central bank evaluates the potential of Digital Euro

Visa partnered with Circle Internet Financial, the company behind the USDC stablecoin, to issue a credit card to send and receive USDC directly

IBM acquired Expertus Technologies, a Canada-based fintech, to expand its cloud payments offering

Australia-based neobank Xinja to shut down

UK-based GoCardless, supporting more than 55,000 businesses worldwide, raised $95 million in a Series F funding round

Brazil-based Creditas raised $255 million in a series E funding round

Wirex became principal member of Visa Network in Europe