Welcome to The Fintech Times Bi-Weekly News Roundup on Thursday 5 January 2023 bringing you the latest job hires and partnership updates.
Appointments
FinTech West appoints PwC’s Katharine Adlard and NatWest’s Louis Spencer to its advisory board in a strategic move to help mobilise more financial technology firms in the South West. Their appointments support FinTech West as it aims to grow its sphere of influence within the corporate financial sector, providing greater ancillary guidance to existing fintechs, along with the incubation of new ones.
UAE’s Mashreq has appointed Radu Topliceanu as its new head of neo and personal banking. In this role, he will help Mashreq grow its customer-centric digital bank Neo as well as its personal banking division. Radu spent the last three years with BRD Groupe Société Générale in Romania as deputy CEO.
Insurtech bolttech names Dr. Jens Schädler as CEO, Europe. Based in Switzerland, he will provide strategic leadership across bolttech’s Europe operations, driving new and existing market and partnership growth. He takes over from Andrew Cons.
Mastercard has appointed Gautam Aggarwal as division president for South Asia & country corporate officer, India. He takes the mantle from Nikhil Sahni, who is also assuming a new regional role within the company. Aggarwal will oversee all of Mastercard’s activities across South Asia and India, including product management, engagements with customers and regulators, and marketing. He will also lead operations across the sub-continent.
Global technical body EMVCo has hires Oliver Manahan as director of engagement and operations. He joins from Infineon Technologies where he was responsible for business development in North America. Prior to Infineon, Manahan also held senior positions at Mastercard and Visa.
Partnerships
Fintech platform Adyen has partnered with Autocanteen, the touchless self-checkout solution. Adyen’s technology supports Autocanteen’s international growth, with local acquiring capabilities that allow its customers to pay in their preferred currency. Adyen will also help Autocanteen to understand the local payment regulations of international markets and ensure customer experience and cash flow processes are optimised.
CoinList adopts LexisNexis orchestration platform to deliver end-to-end customer onboarding and ongoing monitoring. LexisNexis® RiskNarrative™ enables CoinList to enhance its entire identity verification, fraud, and anti-money laundering strategies.
Bondsmith, a provider of cash management and savings solutions to the wealth management industry, has become a principal member of Visa. This further Bondsmith’s mission of improving the wealth management industry through embedded banking services.
Company updates
Zopa Bank has crossed the £3billion deposits milestone, while its customers have collectively opened 150,000 accounts. The Zopa Smart Saver account has also attracted £2billion in less than 11 months. Zopa’s ambition is to make the hundreds of billions in ‘zombie money’ sitting idle in UK current accounts work harder.
Coinmotion, a Finland-based cryptocurrency service provider, is confirmed by the Bank of Spain as a valid provider of virtual currency exchange services for fiat currency and custody of electronic wallets. The company already has a network of Spain partners.
China Mobile, the parent company of Pakistan telecommunications network Zong 4G, showcased its first digital payments solution ‘PayMax,’ during an exclusive product showcasing event at Zong HQ in Islamabad. This strategic venture aims to empower the people of Pakistan with a financial solution that is secure, unique and ensures inclusion in the unbanked sector of Pakistan.
