Cash Is Dead(Ish), the Tale of 2 Challenger Bank Models, the Proliferation of FaaS Tools

Is the long-predicted death of cash finally happening because of coronavirus? Here’s why even Europe’s central banks are nodding yes.

Emerging market challenger banks will have to look carefully at market conditions, possible target segments, sustainable revenue sources and the regulatory structure that best supports their desired business model.

Iwoca has raised £100m to lend under the CBILS scheme and wants it to be extended beyond September to help small businesses borrow.

Remittance companies that are building solutions based on technology are seeing a surge in business. And one of them, Remitly, which is announcing that it has raised $85 million in equity to double down on its growth.

Madrid-based Bnext, a provider of alternative banking services, has secured $13 million in another capital investment round by its existing investors.

eToro has recently announced the acquisition of Marq Millions Ltd to support the trading provider’s launch of its forthcoming debit card.

Metro Bank has bought peer-to-peer lender RateSetter in a move that pushes challenger bank further into unsecured consumer lending. The deal, valued at £2.5m ($3.3m), was announced last week and follows a period of talks first confirmed in mid-June.

When it comes to finance, SaaS adoption is only just starting. In a recent survey, 88% of CFOs still relied on spreadsheets for budgeting and forecasting. The financial stack has largely been unchanged due to an industry skewed towards being late adopters and a lack of compelling innovation. That is — until the recent explosion of FinTech brought about a proliferation of FaaS tools (Finance As A Service).

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it plans to issue an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) later this year on consumer-authorized access to financial records.

A suspect in one of Germany’s biggest financial frauds talked of assembling a Libyan militia and bragged of adventures with Russian troops.

Consumers can now include their Netflix on-time payment history on their Experian Boost accounts, which can help improve their credit scores.

WhatsApp plans to offer credit, insurance and pension products to lower-income individuals and those in rural areas in India and help digitize local small and medium-sized businesses as the Facebook service looks to make a digital payments push in its biggest market by users.