Alternative finance

285 articles tagged with this keyword

/crypto

Swiss crypto firm launches university courses

Swiss crypto bank Seba has sought to address the potential skills gap in emerging technology by launching a blockchain-themed university education course.

/startups

Santander InnoVentures invests in Latin American SME lender a55

The venture capital arm of Banco Santander has led a $5 million round in a55, an alternative lender to SMEs is Brazil and Mexico.

/covid-19

Nick Ogden: Alternative lending sector must be harnessed by UK government schemes

Involving the alternative lending sector is the key to addressing the problem of distributing government loans and other support to businesses struggling as a result of the Coronavirus lockdown, according to the founder of ClearBank and RTGS Global Nick Ogden.

/startups

SME lending platform Validus raises funds for push into Thailand

Singapore-based SME financing platform Validus has raised over US$14 million, with US$20 million in committed capital, in an ongoing Series B+ financing round.

/payments

RateSetter slashes interest payouts as P2P lenders rush for cover

The UK's biggest P2P lender RateSetter has slashed the interest rate paid to investors by 50% as it prepares for a wave of defaults under Covid-19.

/sustainable

Antony Jenkins on sustainability: ‘You can’t please everyone’

In conversation with Finextra TV, Antony Jenkins, founder and executive chairman of 10x Future Technologies and former Barclays CEO, highlights that the single most important factor in the push toward sustainability is transparency.

/retail

Fitch warns Covid-19 payment holidays to hit non-bank lenders' liquidity

Payment moratoria will weaken European non-bank lenders' operating cash flows in the short term but the ultimate impact on liquidity will depend on the speed and scope of payment holiday applications, Fitch Ratings says.

/inclusion

Covid-19 is a call to action for regulators to boost financial inclusion

Speaking at Innovate Finance’s virtual panel for UK Fintech Week 2020, Alicia Levine, COO, Chipper Cash, believes that now is the time for regulators to step up and provide fintech companies with a clear path toward regulated activity.

/payments

Previse raises $11 million to help businesses get paid faster

Invoice financing platform Previse has raised $11 million in a funding round led by Reefknot Investments and Mastercard, with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Hambro Perks and Augmentum Fintech.

/sustainable

BofA global environmental exec: Addressing climate change goes beyond business-as-usual

Alex Liftman, global environmental executive, Bank of America (BofA), believes “significantly accelerating progress on addressing big global issues like climate change requires going beyond business-as-usual financing to find innovative approaches that can help attract a larger share of capital from a broader set of investors.”

/covid-19

SMB lender Kabbage cuts off credit lines

American online lender Kabbage has begun suspending credit lines to its small business clients without notice, according to Bloomberg.

/sustainable

Bunq CEO: Covid-19 no threat to appetite for sustainability

Continuing pressure caused by Covid-19 has not put a dampener on bunq’s green-minded users, as 81% of the Dutch challenger's online community have pushed for a 'SuperGreen' commitment to plant trees for every EUR100 spent with any bunq card.

/startups

Greensill buys Oz salary-on-demand startup Earnd

Earnd, a Sydney startup that allows employees to draw down their salary in installments, has been acquired by Greensill, a UK-based supplier of alternative supply chain finance. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

/inclusion

Quona closes $203m financial inclusion fintech fund

Quona Capital, a venture firm focused on financial inclusion in emerging markets, has closed its second fintech fund with $203 million in commitments, led by anchor investor Accion International.

/regulation

Transformative regulation finds its feet in 2020

The true benefits and complexities of transformative regulation across financial services is set to become reality in 2020, as firms work to prepare and implement systems to meet compliance standards while maintaining a competitive edge.

/startups

German SME financing startup FinCompare doubles Series A round

Berlin-based SME financing specialist FinCompare has topped up its Series A funding round with an additional EUR12 million from, among others, ING Ventures.

/payments

‘Millennials want credit’ says ex-Visa innovation chief and i2c president Jim McCarthy

The consumer of today is educated, digitally empowered and more than ever before, wants to make informed financial decisions. This requires financial players to provide a quick, efficient and barrier-free customer service that keeps pace with the dynamic transformations of this new era of payments.

/Alternative finance

Euro agencies to develop blockchain forensics

Two defence agencies in Austria and France are joining forces to improve cryptocurrency security and tackle the rising rate of crime in the crypto market.

/sustainable

The Redsand Group to launch sustainable fintech fund

Founder and managing partner of The Redsand Group, Nicole Anderson, announced in a recent interview with Finextra TV that the group will launch a fund to work with the venture community to support fintech aimed at tackling sustainability across financial services through tools such as blockchain and tokenisation.

/sustainable

How to use technology to solve climate change and cloud waste

Global IT expense is set to reach a staggering $3.9 trillion in 2020, an increase of 3.4% from 2019 according to Gartner. Driven by the adoption of software-as-a-service (SaaS), all market segments are expected to spend on forms of software such as cloud and expand its use through 2023. But what does this mean for the environment?