Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 4 July 2018
Groupe BPCE introduces instant payments
Instant Payment allows for the completion of account-to-account payments within 10 seconds. Groupe BPCE’s introduction of this new service – a first in France – offers many advantages for all categories of banking and insurance customers, be they individuals, merchants, companies or administrations.
Whether used for real-time compensation of insurance losses, flight purchases in Europe or inclusion in mobile banking services, Instant Payment is now a reality in France for Natixis Payments and Natixis Assurances clients and will shortly be available for Banques Populaires and Caisses d’Epargne customers.
“Natixis Payments has been investing in infrastructure for several years now in order to bring this new payment service to clients. These solutions – a first on the French market – have been devised to optimize the user experience, a prime example being real-time notification for beneficiaries”, explains Pierre-Antoine Vacheron, member of the Senior Management Committee of Natixis, in charge of payments.
As from today, Natixis Assurances becomes the first insurance company in France to offer clients an innovative and exclusive service providing for instant compensation of insurance losses. Immediately after presenting their insurance claims, insured customers will have their bank accounts credited in real time with the compensation paid out.
Paysend closes $20 million funding round
Paysend, the business targeting a global payments revolution, has closed a $20 million funding round, led by investment firm MARCorp Financial.
The funding, which also came from other existing investors, will be used to launch new services for Paysend’s rapidly expanding customer base and to invest in its global expansion plans.
Ronald Millar, CEO of Paysend, said: “We are delighted to welcome MARCorp onboard and to increase our international investor base alongside the global technology platform we have built.
“I am proud of what we have achieved to date, and what we have planned for the future. We are the only global card-to-card platform, and the technological and operational expertise required to create that could only have come from an executive team with special knowledge, creativity and ambition – our team.”
The news comes just a few week’s after the payments disruptor announced a three-fold increase in its customer base over the past 6 months.
Michael Fazio, Chairman of MARCorp Financial, said: ”Paysend have created the first integrated B2B and B2C global payments business which is already disrupting the market. Their three businesses – Global Transfers, Global Account and Global Processing are leaders in their respective fields. We look forward to being a part of the next stage of Paysend’s growth.”
Airwallex closes Series B fundraising with $80m
International payments company Airwallex announced the successful completion of its Series B fundraising. The company has now secured US$80 million in outside investment, taking their total fundraising to US$102 million.
In this round, returning Series A investors Tencent and Sequoia China were joined by fellow China based Hillhouse, Sir Ka-Shing Li’s Horizons Ventures from Hong Kong, Indonesia’s Central Capital Ventura (BCA) and Australia’s Square Peg, with whom Airwallex partnered in December for US$6m Series A+ funding.
The new funding will be used to expand operations globally, with particular focus in South East Asia to deliver on what Airwallex has coined the ‘dream factory model.’
As explained by COO and Co-Founder Lucy Liu, “This model focuses on delivering full end to end solutions – not just FX and payments — enabling our clients to accelerate their global growth and open them up to new markets.”
Chinese based Sequoia have demonstrated strong confidence in the company’s ability to change how the world does business with the region, again participating in Airwallex’s fundraising.
