The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | May 8th

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.

High-yield savings

In just one week, Apple’s new high-yield savings account has received around $1 billion in deposits.

Earlier this month, Apple launched a new savings account with a rate over ten times higher than the national average – 4.15%. The Apple savings account offers an interest rate on par with some of the top high-yield savings accounts currently available, so it’s not surprising so many people are saving their money.

According to Apple, its savings account, launched in April in partnership with Goldman Sachs, offers US consumers a high-yield annual return of 4.15% – 10 times the national average. Apple Card users can set up and manage their savings accounts directly from the app with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements. According to Forbes, the savings account attracted $400 million in deposits on launch day alone, with approximately 240,000 accounts being opened by the end of the first week.

As part of its plans to strengthen its UK investment banking arm, Deutsche Bank is set to acquire Numis in an all-cash deal. Numis shareholders will receive 350p per share, valuing the company at approximately £410 million.

Deutsche Bank will fold its UK and Ireland corporate finance business into Numis to establish a combined unit offering corporate broking, strategic advisory services (including M&A and growth capital), access to equity and debt capital markets, and equity research, sales, and execution services.

Numis is a UK corporate broking and advisory house providing strategic advice and capital market connectivity to 166 corporate broking clients. The deal is set to complete by Q4 2023 subject to approval by Numis shareholders and regulators. Deutsche Bank head of corporate banking and investment banking Fabrizio Campelli said the deal has the potential to unlock “significant value” for both franchises.

Campelli added that the bank has “been evaluating how to accelerate the growth of our business in the UK” and that Numis “represents a compelling strategic fit”.

Aiding US financial system

In a $10.6bn deal, J P Morgan Chase acquired First Republic Bank from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

JP Morgan Chase has assumed all deposits – insured and uninsured – worth approximately $92 billion, including $30 billion of large bank deposits. Branches reopened and normal services resumed on Monday, 1 May.

The bank will pay $10.6 billion to the FDIC, BBC News reports. “In carrying out this transaction, JP Morgan Chase is supporting the US financial system through its significant strength and execution capabilities,” the firm says, minimizing the cost to the FDIC through a competitive bid process.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be about $13 billion.

JP Morgan Chase CEO and chair Jamie Dimon says: “This acquisition modestly benefits our company overall, it is accretive to shareholders, it helps further advance our wealth strategy, and it is complementary to our existing franchise.”

Latin American digital payments company Liquido emerged from stealth mode to democratise and modernise digital payment access for the region’s businesses.

A total of $26 million has been raised for the company, with investors including Index Ventures, Base Partners, Restive Ventures, Mantis VC, and UpHonest Capital. Liquido offers a comprehensive and flexible payments infrastructure, serving a wide range of needs and customer preferences through one unified and integrated API. The company has already processed over $300m in payments during its closed beta phase with several top consumer brands.

The new funding will be used to accelerate the deployment and development of additional capabilities. Liquido has debuted its Payment Plus Platform (PPP), which runs on top of its core payment services, extending capabilities in innovative ways. Initial solutions include the first-of-its-kind WhatsApp Liquido Store and Payment Success Booster.

According to Statista, the transaction value of digital commerce in Latin America was estimated at over $100bn in 2019 and is now expected to increase by approximately 73% by 2025, reaching $371.2bn by 2027. However, the Latin American payments market remains fragmented, and Liquido aims to fill this need with world-class payments infrastructure.

What is the buzz

FinTech startup Bueno Finance has merged with BetterPlace amid a funding winter, according to a local media firm.

BetterPlace was founded in 2015 by Pravin Agarwala and Uday Singh. A total of $80 million in capital has been raised by the Bengaluru-based firm from investors such as Macquarie Capital, Site Capital Partners, Jungle Ventures, and British International Investment.

Bueno Finance and BetterPlace cater to the blue-collar workforce and count Swiggy and Zomato as clients. “Bueno Finance was not able to raise funds and BetterPlace has been looking to get into lending. Hence, this acquisition,” media firm Mint reported. 

Sandeep Arora, another co-founder of Bueno, left the company last year “after disagreements with Saurav Gandhi and Goat Capital,” VCCircle reported. According to the report, the company had difficulty raising funds due to its inability to onboard clients.