The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | December 26th

By Puja Sharma

The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.

Drift Apart!

✂️As part of a realignment of teams across some businesses, PayU India has laid off 150 employees, representing 6% of its workforce. It affects PayU’s India unit and Wimbo, the mobile payment security and technology company it acquired in 2019. Naspers-owned firm lays off workers across teams. LazyPay, Citrus, and Wimbo are all fintech businesses operated by PayU India.

According to a spokesperson for PayU, we are realigning teams in some of our Indian businesses, keeping our highest strategic priorities in mind. There will be a parting of ways with some of our colleagues. Close to 150 employees, which is less than 6% of our total employee strength, will be impacted by organisational realignment. The statement further added that it was important to ensure that PayU had the right structure and resources, and is nimble enough to respond to a fast-evolving fintech market and seize the opportunities, as the company focuses on creating a full stack digital financial services ecosystem in India.

In October, Prosus, the investment arm of the South African Naspers, which owns PayU, shelved a proposed USD 4.7 billion acquisition of online payments gateway BillDesk by PayU. The termination came within a month of India’s antitrust regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI) approving the deal, which was first announced in August 2021.

The merger of PayU and BillDesk would have created a payment gateway behemoth with $147 billion in annualised total payments value (TPV), almost double that of Razorpay, which processes a TPV of USD 80 billion. According to PayU’s latest financial statement, the company turned profitable in FY22, reporting a 51% jump in operating revenue to Rs 2099,43 crore, and a 50.58% increase in revenue to Rs 2,130 crore.

‍♂️First Sound Bank announced that it has reached a mutual agreement with BM Technologies, Inc.  to terminate previously-announced merger agreement. The Bank will continue to do business as a locally owned, independent community bank, providing commercial and private banking services to our target customer base consisting of small businesses, high net-worth individuals, professional service firms, and non-profit entities. Our target market will continue to be King, Pierce, and Snohomish Counties.

Commenting on this decision, Marty Steele, President & CEO of the Bank, said “When we announced this proposed merger in November of last year, we knew that the regulatory approval process was likely going to be lengthy because of its non-traditional nature: trying to merge a regulated bank with a fintech company. As it turned out, the regulatory approval process was prolonged, which allowed us to reflect on our broad strategy of maximizing the value of the Bank to all of our stakeholders — our shareholders, customers, employees, business partners, and regulators. Our board and senior management team now believe that continuing to grow the Bank and continuing to increase its profitability is our best course of action.”

Cut a check

Abu Dhabi’s state-owned ADQ is one of the investors participating in the Series C funding round of UAE-based Bayzat, a regional employee benefits platform, which raised $25 million. DisruptAD, ADQ’s venture platform, invested alongside Ischyros New York, a global hedge fund, Bayzat said in a statement on Thursday. To date, Bayzat’s has raised more than $60 million in funding from leading investors such as Mubadala Capital and Point72 Ventures.

Bayzat, which manages insurance, payroll, and HR administration processes, will use the funds to expand its customer base across the Middle East, with a particular focus on Saudi Arabia. DisruptAd’s activities include a global, multi-stage direct investment business, as well as a fund-of-funds business.

ADQ, which owns Abu Dhabi Ports, Abu Dhabi Airport, and bourse operator Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), is on an investment spree. It has taken strategic stakes in a variety of ventures within the UAE and globally.

Moneyhub, the Open Finance, Open Data, and payments platform has secured £15 million in funding from savings and retirement business Phoenix Group. The additional cash concludes Moneyhub’s largest fundraise to date, totaling £55 million.

The company previously raised £35 million on 24 October 2022 from Legal & General and Lloyds Banking Group, with an additional £5 million debt facility from Shawbrook Bank.

Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, already has a commercial relationship with Moneyhub through a financial wellness proposition for Workplace pension customers – Money Mindset. Standard Life will look to enhance this partnership, using Moneyhub’s Open Data technology to support its strategic goals.

The overall investment will accelerate the ongoing development of Moneyhub’s solutions and expedite the internationalisation of its technology. With over 100 clients, Moneyhub is working to support Phoenix Group with the provision of more tailored, customer-centric services through consumer-driven data and Open Banking payments.

Samantha Seaton, CEO of Moneyhub said, “This additional investment from Phoenix Group, following our long-standing commercial relationship with its Standard Life business, is further testament to the growing possibilities the industry sees in Open Data, and the transformational role Moneyhub can play. We are delighted that Phoenix Group has chosen to go even further by investing in the business”.

What is the buzz

UK Finance has partnered with nine banks and building societies to launch Cash Access UK, a company that aims to protect access to cash across the country.

An independent company, Cash Access UK has been funded by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society, NatWest Group, Santander, Virgin Money, Danske Bank, and TSB. The incorporation of the company follows “extensive industry collaboration” over 18 months led by UK Finance to align with regulation and legislation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The company aims to provide cash access, deposit, and basic banking services where they are needed, across the UK. While many people are now opting to manage their money digitally, we want to ensure that people can continue to access cash and do their banking face to face too,” says David Postings, chief executive of UK Finance.

“The creation of Cash Access UK Ltd is an important step towards a network of banking hubs across the country. So far 29 hubs have been announced and the industry is fully behind getting these up and running as quickly as possible,” Postings adds.