The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup takes a look at the latest fintech stories from around the world on Tuesday 11 February 2025.
Job moves
The Financial Technology Association has welcomed former National Credit Union Administration chairman Rodney Hood as the acting comptroller of the currency. The FTA says Hood brings a wealth of experience to the role, including a strong appreciation of the positive impact of financial innovation and bank-fintech partnerships.
UK fintech Serene has appointed three major hires to its leadership team, collectively bringing nearly four decades of expertise in data, engineering and financial services. These strategic hires come as Serene continues to expand its footprint in the financial technology space, following an initial investment from Fuel Ventures 12 months ago and recent funding from NatWest.
Digital asset infrastructure provider Parfin has appointed Dr. Jacob Mendel as co-CTO of Rayls, Parfin’s EVM blockchain system for TradFi institutions. His expertise will be used in scaling and securing Rayls as Parfin expands its role in institutional digital assets. As co-CTO, his priorities also include strengthening Parfin’s technological infrastructure as well as fostering innovation within the engineering team.
Ant International appoints Jiang-Ming Yang as chief innovation officer. As CIO, he will drive the synergised development of Ant International’s product and technology teams. He will also lead the CIO Organisation, the team responsible for steering Ant International’s global innovation and product strategy, ensuring that products and solutions are continually enhanced to stay ahead of industry trends and customer needs.
Funding and investments
British Business Investments has agreed a new facility to Shire (Shire Leasing plc and Shire Securities Ltd) to enable an increased flow of asset finance solutions to UK smaller businesses. The facility, made from the Structured Financial Institutions Solutions variant of the Bank’s Investment Programme amounts to £25million of block discounting funding.
Proxymity, a digital investor communication platform, has secured $26million in financing from existing investors, including BNP Paribas, BNY, Citi, Clearstream, Computershare, J.P. Morgan and State Street. Proxymity will use this growth capital to further enhance its technology as well as for geographic expansion.
SME lender 365 Finance has expanded into the Republic of Ireland, supporting the growth of Irish businesses and entering the EU marketplace. The funder’s international growth strategy is to leverage the company’s highly automated AI-powered lending platform in other markets. SMEs in Ireland can apply for €10,000 to €250,000 of revenue-based finance.
Sardine, an AI risk platform for fraud, compliance, and credit underwriting, has raised $70million in a Series C funding round led by Activant Capital. Sardine is enhancing its AI risk platform with intelligent agents that automate key compliance and fraud prevention tasks, reducing manual work and improving accuracy for financial institutions. These agents focus on areas like KYC onboarding, sanctions screening, merchant risk and dispute management.
Sustainability-focused fintech company ESG360° is planning to grow its Glasgow office after bagging a £1million grant from Scottish Enterprise. The London-headquartered company, which provides businesses with the tools and insights for environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance, established an office in the city last year. It plans to create more than 30 high-value jobs over the next three years.
More investment news
ETFbook, a data and analytics platform specialising in the ETF market, has closed a €4million Series A funding round led by BlackFin Capital Partners.The funding round will fuel ETFbook’s further expansion as the company seeks to attract top talents across the organisation from product development, through data science, all the way to sales and marketing.
Growth-equity investor FTV Capital has revealed a $45million investment in Validus Risk Management, a software and tech-enabled services platform managing over $500billion in market risk exposure for some of the largest institutional investors, fund managers and corporations. Validus serves over 750 funds globally whose managers have $3.2trillion in combined AUM.
Datalign Advisory, an AI platform matching consumers with top financial advisors, has bagged $5million investment from Link Ventures. It brings its total investment in Datalign to $9million on a post-money valuation of $75million. The capital enables Datalign to further accelerate the development of innovative AI and ML capabilities that promise to transform how financial advisors serve their clients.
Partnerships and collaborations
The Current Account Switch Service (CASS) has welcomed Zempler Bank as a member. By joining the CASS service, Zempler will be able to offer fast, convenient switching to businesses looking for a new banking provider and enable easier switching to the Monika platform for vulnerable adults using Money Carer’s services.
Worldline, a payment services company, partners with DNB Bank ASA, one of the largest financial services group in Norway. DNB will leverage Worldline’s Swift Instant Connectivity to TIPS (TARGET Instant Payment Settlement) to enhance its payment infrastructure and provide seamless, reliable and real-time payment services to its clients.
Experion Technologies, a global software product engineering and digital transformation company, has forged a strategic partnership with Tagit, a digital banking solutions provider based in Singapore. This collaboration aims to shakeup banks and financial services institutions with advanced digital banking solutions. Partnering with Tagit, Experion will empower banks to enhance their digital reach.
There’s also a partnership for Fineqia, a digital asset and investment business and Copper.co, a digital asset custody, collateral management and prime services company, to provide custody solutions for its exchange-traded note (ETN) business.
Netbank has unveiled a new loan channeling partnership with Jia Financing Inc, a fintech company helping small business financing in emerging markets. By leveraging Netbank’s advanced banking infrastructure, Jia will scale its invoice financing solutions, bringing access to capital for SMEs in the Philippines.
Product news
Travel debit card Currensea has launched a new Pro membership. It offers unlimited fee free spending on transactions abroad and up to £500 fee free withdrawals per month from overseas ATMs (one per cent FX fee applies above this). Its rates are also available in all 180 currencies. Annual membership to Pro is priced at £39.95 and includes access to a range of travel benefits.
Allica Bank announces rate reductions across three key commercial finance products. Rates for its commercial mortgages, healthcare and asset finance products are all being cut, following earlier reductions in 2024. Allica introducers will see these reductions reflected in owner-occupied mortgages, semi-commercial investment and owner-occupied mortgages.
Independent consumer group Fairer Finance has launched a new set of ratings Savings accounts designed to help consumers compare easy access savings accounts based on consistency and longevity of rates. For the past two years, Fairer Finance has tracked instant access savings rates, assessing how they perform over time against the base rate and the top 10 per cent of rates available.
Finova, the UK cloud-based mortgage and savings software provider, has launched its new mobile-first onboarding app for savers, expanding its suite of products available for lenders and savings providers. The native app aims to simplify the savings onboarding journey, addressing multiple common pain points and providing savers with a more streamlined digital experience.
Company updates
T2, a Saudi technology services and solutions provider, has acquired a majority stake in the Saudi startup platform Moola. The acquisition will enable T2 to enter the fintech market and expand its range of services and solutions to offer broader options to its clients within and beyond Saudi Arabia. Founded in 2022, Moola enables businesses to efficiently manage expenses and automate financial processes
