Payments News » Challenger Banks

Digital banking startup Revolut raises $250M at a valuation of $1.7B

April 26 2018

“To put this into context, TransferWise — London’s undisputed fintech darling and on some features a direct competitor to Revolut — recently announced $280 million in Series D investment, giving the company a reported post-money valuation of $1.6 billion. The difference? It took TransferWise seven years compared to Revolut’s three. That’s testament to how much value investors […]

Providers

Royal Bank of Scotland takes aim at challengers with digital-only bank

April 25 2018

“RBS is moving in on challenger bank territory. The Royal Bank of Scotland reportedly plans to launch a mobile, digital-only banking platform in a beta testing phase in the third quarter. The experience is being designed as a “marketplace” for financial services that would recommend different financial products to customers, whether they’re from RBS or partner companies, which is similar to what Goldman Sachs’ […]

Providers

Tandem adds fixed savings accounts

April 11 2018

in
Challenger Banks

“Tandem, the U.K. challenger bank founded by fintech veteran Ricky Knox, has rolled out its second banking product today with the addition of fixed term savings accounts. The new offering enables customers to get a guaranteed interest rate if they deposit their money with Tandem over one, two or three years, and follows the launch of […]

Providers

Banks and Fintechs: Adversaries or Partners?

May 1 2018

“Some fintechs will aggressively go it alone and challenge the legacy banks in their most lucrative markets. And recent rule changes in Europe, which force banks to transfer closely guarded customer information to fintechs upon customer request, will add new momentum to the upstarts.”

Domains

Plum, The Fintech Chatbot That Helps You Save, Adds Theme-Based Investing

June 18 2018

“Plum, the fintech startup co-founded by early TransferWise employee Victor Trokoudes, is continuing its mission to help you manage your finances and save money. The AI-powered Messenger chatbot already offers savings functionality, including round-ups and regular savings, and today is launching an investment tool that lets you choose fund investments based on themes, such as ethical […]

Domains

SoFi Rolls Out Mobile Checking Account Aimed At Millennials

June 21 2018

“The checking account, which is in beta, is called SoFi Money. It marks an important step for the company that started out as a digital lender seven years ago, then branched out to wealth management, personal loans and mortgages. SoFi is aiming at digitally native millennials; owning deposit relationships keeps customers within SoFi’s ecosystem and lets it cross sell […]

Providers

Penta, The Bank Account For SMEs, Adds Multi-Card Support To Manage Expenses

June 19 2018

“Dubbed ‘Team Access,’ the new feature — which affords similar functionality to the likes of Pleo, Spendesk, and Soldo — lets business owners issue multiple MasterCards to employees who need to make purchases on a company’s behalf. Each card is linked to a business’ Penta account but can have custom rules and permissions per card/employee, in terms of how much money […]

Providers

N26 Updates Its Web App

July 10 2018

in
Challenger Banks

“Fintech startup N26 wants to compete with traditional banks on all fronts. And it means providing a useful web interface to view your past transactions, transfer money and more. Most users likely interact with N26 through the mobile app. But it doesn’t mean web apps are useless. Contrary to Revolut, N26 has had a web interface since day one. […]

Providers

Small Businesses Access More Than $1 Billion Of Working Capital During Non-Banking Hours Through Kabbage

June 29 2018

in
Challenger Banks

“Kabbage, Inc., a global financial services, technology and data platform serving small businesses, reports its 145,000-plus small business customers accessed over 300,000 loans during non-banking hours, reaching a record total of more than $1 billion in funding. In total, Kabbage has now provided access to more than $5 billion in funding to its customers across […]