A New Fintech Unicorn, Visa and Robinhood Investigations, Nubank, Viva Republica and Auxmoney Mega Rounds,

Visa faces a European Commission inquiry over its rules for fintech companies. It faces accusations of anti-competitive behavior.

The company faces a civil fraud investigation over its early failure to fully disclose its practice of selling clients’ orders to high-speed trading firms, people familiar with the matter said.

Netherlands-based payment services provider becomes a unicorn after a raise backed by US VC firm TCV whose portfolio includes Revolut, Netflix and Spotify.

Nubank, the Brazillian challenger which sailed past the 25 million customer mark in June, has landed $300 million in fresh funding.

Auxmoney, a German credit marketplace that claims to be the largest in continental Europe, has raised €150 million in growth capital in a round led by Centerbridge Partners, a private equity firm with a history of taking majority stakes.

Aspex Management, Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund, Altos Ventures, Goodwater Capital, and Greyhound Capital joined the round.

Thunes, a Singapore-based startup developing a cross-border payments network to make financial services more accessible in emerging markets, announced today it has raised a $60 million Series B. The round was led by Africa-focused firm Helios Investment Partners, with participation from Checkout.com and returning investors GGV Capital and Future Shape.

Nerdwallet, which provides resources for people looking for a new credit card, loan, insurance or other financial product or just financial advice, is making a move today to spearhead a move into international markets.

Point of sale financing, the modern layaway that lets you pay for a new TV in installments, has been rising steeply in popularity over the past two years. Now PayPal is entering the market.

Mastercard has built a virtual testing platform to help central banks assess and explore national digital currencies.

People in Austin, Texas, can now pay for parking through Google Pay directly in the Google Maps app. The feature will roll out to more areas in the coming weeks.

Santander, the Spanish multinational banking giant, is announcing that its fintech venture arm is to be spun out and will be managed more autonomously going forward. Previously known as Santander Innoventures and first established in 2014, the VC is being re-branded to Mouro Capital.

More and more European fintechs are expanding to Asia - but how easy is it to penetrate a market already accustomed to digital wallets?