6 major FinTech partnerships in Europe in September 2023

By Gloria Methri

Financial technology or FinTech is a term used to describe financial services that are predominantly technology-driven or apply technology to improve financial services. FinTech influences different sectors and industries such as education, retail banking, fundraising and nonprofit, and investment management, to name a few.

In recent times, FinTech innovations have disrupted traditional trading, banking, financial advice, and products. Financial products and services that were once the realm of branches, salespeople, and desktops are now more commonly found on mobile devices. This is facilitated by partnerships between banks or financial institutions and technology vendors around the world.

Let’s look at six such partnerships announced in Europe in the month of September 2023.

• Delubac & Cie and Finastra

Banque Delubac & Cie, an independent financial institution offering specialist banking services, has launched its instant payments offering with Finastra Payments To Go.

With the SaaS solution implemented, the bank can provide other institutions with access to Europe’s TARGET Instant Payments Settlements (TIPS), while future-proofing its business to respond quickly to changing demands.

• Deutsche Bank and Taurus

Taurus, a Geneva-based digital asset technology provider, has signed a global partnership agreement with Deutsche Bank. As part of the collaboration, the bank will integrate Taurus’ technology to establish digital asset custody and tokenization services.

Earlier this year, Deutsche Bank also participated in Taurus’ $65 million Series B funding round alongside Credit Suisse, Pictet Group, and Arab Bank Switzerland.

• Intesa Sanpaolo and Nexi

Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo has partnered with PayTech Nexi to launch SoftPOS, an innovative solution that allows merchants to receive contactless payments from their customers using Android devices.

SoftPOS is an app that the merchant can associate with a device in a few simple and secure steps. It also sends digital receipts directly to the customer. The new product developed by Nexi will now be available as a preview for Intesa Sanpaolo customers.

• Libra Internet Bank and Temenos

Romania’s Libra Internet Bank is modernising its payment capabilities using Temenos Payments to facilitate ISO 20022 cross-border payments and reporting (Swift CBPR+) on the Swift network.

Libra will leverage Temenos’ platform to add other payment rails in the future, bringing them together in a single platform. The platform will support the new ISO20022-based cross-border payment and reporting standards, expanding data transparency and payment tracking services.

• Lloyds and Fiserv

Lloyds Bank has partnered with Fiserv to widely offer wholesale FX rates to UK and European merchants for dynamic currency conversion (DCC) on card transactions. DDC enables consumers paying for purchases to see the cost in their local currency, regardless of which currency the merchant uses to display prices.

UK businesses using a range of products from Lloyds Bank Cardnet, and European businesses on the Carat global commerce platform from Fiserv, will be able to access the Lloyds Bank wholesale FX rate for dynamic currency conversion of card transactions, market risk management and timely settlement services.

• Saxo Bank and Mastercard

Saxo Bank and Mastercard have partnered to implement open banking payments in the bank’s investment platforms, making it seamless for customers to transfer money into their investment accounts. Saxo Bank customers will no longer need to log in to a separate bank account to initiate a manual transfer into their investment account.

Customers in Denmark can now top up their investment accounts using Mastercard’s open banking technology. As a next step, the payments feature will be rolled out across additional European markets.