Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 2 November 2018
Money management app Emma launches fintech marketplace
Emma, the personal financial advocate, today introduced a fintech Marketplace to allow customers to easily, and securely, connect financial services through the Emma app.
The Marketplace gives Emma customers the ability to see their financial life in one place, with access to pension, investing and rent repayment products at launch.
The first group of partners in the Marketplace today includes digital investing service Wealthsimple, pension manager PensionBee and rent recognition platform CreditLadder.
“Emma was built to empower millions of individuals to live a better and more fulfilling financial life. We believe a true financial advocate needs to bring transparency and clarity in people’s lives on every front. We started this journey with traditional products and we are now rushing to have a wider range of services integrated.” – Edoardo Moreni, CEO of Emma.
After successfully launching a Cryptocurrency integration and opening up to a new emerging asset class, Emma is including other financial services and launching a Marketplace offering. For the first time, consumers will have a complete overview of their financial life in one secure platform.
Emma is currently building the banking app for millennials (iOS and Android), a mobile only solution that helps consumers avoid overdrafts, find and cancel subscriptions, track debt and save money. The product aims at providing a consumer focused banking experience, with the goal to improve the financial life of its users.
“Just like Emma’s founders, we believe consumer empowerment starts with seeing your entire financial universe in one place. Pensions have been left out of mainstream finance for too long now and savers have suffered greatly as a result. Today we are very proud to take another step forward for pensions savers and announce our latest integration for existing users with Emma.” – Clare Reilly, Head of Corporate Development, PensionBee
Mobile payments almost as unpopular as cheques – survey
Despite the hype, research by IDEX Biometrics has revealed that mobile payments are almost as unpopular as cheques.
In fact, the payment card is still the number one payment method when it comes to in-store purchases for UK consumers. Three quarters (75%) of respondents stated that they use cards, including contactless, most often, compared to cash (21%), mobile payments (3%), and cheques (1%).
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a glimpse of hope for mobile payments on the horizon, with 72% stating they are concerned about the possibility of no longer having access to a physical debit card and needing to rely on mobile payments only.
It seems consumers’ personal attachment to the payment card is virtually unbreakable. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of respondents stated that carrying their debit cards provides a sense of security. It’s not surprising then that 75% say they always take a debit card with them when they leave the house. 65% of those questioned said that they wouldn’t give up their debit card in favour of mobile payments and a further 78% admit to feeling more secure using their debit card in comparison to mobile payments.
A further 60% also stated they would be worried people would have access to their accounts if they lost their mobile phone, amplifying the clear consumer distrust in mobile payments and their personal attachment to payment cards.
Icici Bank launches co-branded credit card with Amazon
Icici Bank, announced the launch of a co-branded credit card in an exclusive partnership with ‘Amazon Pay’, the online payment platform of the global e-commerce company Amazon.
Christened, ‘Amazon Pay Icici Bank Credit Card’, the card offers best in the industry rewards points programme for the digitally savvy customers.
This is the first card in the country to enable Amazon Prime members earn 5% reward points on shopping on Amazon.in. Other customers get 3% reward points. They also earn 2% reward points on spends at Amazon Pay partner merchants across categories such as food delivery, utility payments, movie ticketing and much more. As the card is available exclusively on Visa, customers also earn rewards at millions of merchant locations throughout India where Visa cards are accepted.
A prominent proposition of the ‘Amazon Pay Icici Bank Credit Card’ is that each reward point is equivalent to a rupee which customers can redeem on Amazon.in from a catalogue of more than 160 million items available on the website or by paying merchants who accept Amazon Pay. The reward points carry other industry-first benefits too—they are uncapped and do not expire. Besides best in class rewards, customers will also get fuel surcharge waivers, No-cost EMI offers & surprise bonus points during sale events on Amazon.in and Amazon Pay partner merchants.
