Top 5 FinTech deals of August 2020 (UK & Europe version)
By Megha Bhattacharya
The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the process of digitalisation for the financial services industry. Amidst the unprecedented market volatility, the industry’s appetite for digital technology has been on the rise. This is continuously being illustrated by some significant FinTech deals.
Check out the top FinTech deals that took place in August 2020 (UK & Europe) :
FinTech phos recently extended its partnership with Mastercard in a bid to introduce a new mobile payment solution, thus enabling around 12,000 small businesses across 12 European countries to accept contactless payments using their Android mobile devices. The collaboration allows merchants to digitalise their payment processes and offer more payment options to their customers.
The new partnership supports the solution’s growth in existing markets, including the UK, Germany, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as eight other new markets, including Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. Mastercard and phos will support MSMEs across Europe by offering access to a credible technology solution that can streamline payment processes. The collaboration will be relying on the e-money institution Paynetics as the acquiring bank.
phos is a payment acceptance solution that enables organisations to accept payments from their customers using ‘Tap on Phone’ with an NFC-enabled Android device. Founded in 2018, Phos has developed software that turns any NFC-equipped Android device into a payments terminal, negating the need for additional hardware and reducing the total cost of ownership.
Open banking infrastructure provider, Yapily announced an agreement with American Express last month to support the delivery of its Pay with Bank Transfer payment initiation service across Europe. American Express is now able to expand the distribution of its open banking payment product across new markets and boost the provision of benefits for its merchant customers.
Yapily’s open API powers Pay with Bank Transfer for enabling it to gain bank coverage across selected European markets. The collaboration aims to allow American Express to remain in control of the user interface and the experience, without any interruptions or Yapily redirects. Pay with Bank Transfer is expected to make use of biometric authentication, and instant payment APIs where available to ensure faster payments for merchants and enhance the speed and security of payments for consumers.
Established in 2017, Yapily offers a proprietary open API that enables companies to access the financial information needed to meet rising customer expectations in banking, lending, payments, accounting, and money management. Its clients include Intuit QuickBooks, IBM, and GoCardless. It also collaborates with technical design authorities and regulators, such as Open Banking Implementation Entity in the UK and Berlin Group.
Spanish financial institution Bankia appointed Avaloq’s on-premise solution to support its growth in the wealth management business. Avaloq has stated that it will help Bankia capitalise on its market proposition and support in the expansion of its wealth services across all client segments, including traditional private and retail banking clients. The Bank is the fifth Spanish banking client of Avaloq after Banco Alcalá, Banque Pictet & Cie, Banque privée Edmond de Rothschild, and Julius Bär.
Bankia aims to amp up the investment in its wealth management capabilities along with the implementation of Avaloq’s on-premise solution. Its three-year strategic plan involves increasing assets under management from mass affluent clients, complemented with new investment management and advisory products.
Swiss company Avaloq provides software for core banking. Its software system, Avaloq Banking Suite, is used by more than 140 banks worldwide.
European payments provider, Contis recently, announced a partnership with Currencycloud in a bid to offer international payments for around 1 million accounts. The collaboration allows end-customers to convert GBP to more than 30 currencies and send funds to over 50 counties across 5 continents.
The FinTechs stated that the partnership aims to simplify international payments for FinTech clients, companies planning for overseas expansion, and account holders needing to send money abroad.
Contis, a principal member of Visa, offers B2B issuing and processing through its wholly-owned, cloud-based technology. This will be combined with Currencycloud’s multi-currency account infrastructure for enabling a way to provide FOREX and international money transfers. Customers could request a real-time quote, including the exchange rate on offer and transaction fee, before deciding to make a payment.
Italian e-money institution, PostePay, teamed up with Volante Technologies in a bid to enhance the former’s payments modernization program, including its open banking platform, enabling instant payments and providing a new gateway to traditional interbank networks. PostePay is a part of the Poste Italiane Group.
According to FinTech Volante, its VolPay cloud-native microservices architecture will allow Poste Italiane to support current and future payment rails by offering high levels of resilience and extensibility. The resulting modern, scalable end-to-end payments processing infrastructure is expected to enhance customer experience and services for Poste Italiane’s accounts.
The collaboration aims to enable the development of products, including the Codice Postepay QR code solution. PostePay aims to inform and guide changes in consumer habits, thus accelerating Italy’s transformation from cash to digital payments. Poste Italiane has already launched partnerships in digital wealth management, open banking, premium home delivery services, and long-haul road transportation.
ALSO, READ: UK Financial Services Technology Market Report by IBS Intelligence
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