Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 15 January 2018
Tandem gets banking licence after closing Harrods Bank acquisition
Tandem has today completed the purchase of Harrods Bank following regulatory approval by the Prudential Regulation Authority, a division of the Bank of England, and the Financial Conduct Authority.
The deal gives the Tandem group a banking licence, access to Harrods Bank customers and £80 million of capital. It also brings Tandem a £375 million mortgage book and over £400 million of deposits.
Tandem is an app-led banking service that lets customers see all their financial information in one place and pro-actively helps them save money.
Tandem is currently rolling out a travel and cashback card ranked as a “Top Pick” by Money Saving Expert, as well as competitive savings products throughout 2018.
Wells Fargo adds Fitbit Pay support
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) announced today that Wells Fargo is partnering with Fitbit (NYSE: FIT), the leading global wearables brand, to launch Fitbit Pay™ to its customers, giving them the ability to conveniently and securely make purchases at merchants whose payment terminals are set up to accept near-field communication (NFC) payments.
Fitbit Pay is available on Fitbit’s first smartwatch – Fitbit Ionic™.
“Increasingly, our customers are choosing mobile to manage their finances and make payments,” said Jim Smith, head of Virtual Channels at Wells Fargo. “In fact, in May 2017, Wells Fargo had more active mobile customers than online ones for the first time ever. As customer behavior and preferences continue to shift, we’re pleased to provide more options to conveniently make payments from mobile devices and wearables like Fitbit Ionic.”
Mobile banking is the fastest growing channel in Wells Fargo’s history, with more than 20 million active customers.
Swiss lender TradePlus24 picks Trade Ledger as tech partner
Zürich-based lender, TradePlus24, has selected Australian deep tech startup, Trade Ledger, as its global technology partner to roll out its new trade insurance wrapped lending product across their European lending network, and enter the Australian market.
TradePlus24, backed by Credit-Suisse, chose Trade Ledger because its platform not only automates the entire credit assessment process, allowing for rapid scale, but because it can also assess SME supply chain data in real-time while calculating risk down to the individual invoice in real-time – two things no other lending tech can currently do.
“A major problem for banks and other lenders across the globe is the cost, effort, and perceived higher risk of loan origination in the SME sector in particular,” said Martin McCann, CEO and Co-Founder of Trade Ledger.
United Bank for Africa launches Facebook Messenger chatbot
Pan-African financial institution, United Bank for Africa (UBA), has today, changed the face of e-banking with the introduction of Leo, the UBA Chat Banker who enables customers make use of their social media accounts to carry out key banking transactions.
At the official launch of Leo, UBA’s Chat Banker, which took place in Lagos on Thursday, customers of the bank were given a step by step demonstration on the novel way of delivering lifestyle and quality banking through the Facebook Messenger chat platform.
This is the first time that a financial institution in Africa has come up with this manner of solution to simplify the way customers transact. Something that has become necessary in today’s fast-paced world with demands for quick-time transactions and response.
With the launch of the Chat Banking, customers will be able to open new accounts, receive instant transaction notifications, check their balances on the go, transfer funds and airtime top up. They will also be able to confirm cheques, pay bills apply for loans, freeze accounts, request for mini statements, amongst other things.
