November 25, 2020 FinTech Monitor

BFC FinTech Monitor 17th – 25th November

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Stay up-to-date on all the all the latest FinTech news and information from around the world in the BFC FinTech Monitor.

Around the World

  • According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) estimates,financial institutions will be able to save up to USD 1.5 trillion by 2030 by simply introducing virtual and augmented reality technologies.
  • Visa has released a new partner toolkit and Visa Ready FinTech Enabler certification for its Fast Track program. This will allow FinTech startups to accelerate their growth and improve their services as well as establish operational communications with certified partners for digital emissions and other key services.
  • Google Pay is launching digital bank accounts and peer-to-peer payments thanks to the involvement of 11 American financial institutions. These new features will first appear in the Google Pay app in 2021 in the U.S. market.
  • A new account-to-account (A2A) service from Mastercard will allow businesses to make secure payments among themselves and exchange data more efficiently via several systems, including the Automated Clearing House (ACH) system and the Real-Time Transfer (RTP) system. So far, A2A only works in the U.S., but it is expected to appear in other countries in 2021.
  • According to CB Insights, there are now 70 FinTech unicorns in the world, up from 50 just 1 year ago. The most valued of them are Stripe (USD 36 billion), Paytm (USD 16 billion), Chime (USD 14.5 billion), Robinhood (USD 11.7 billion) and Klarna (USD 10.65 billion).
  • Uber has not abandoned its plans to enter the financial market as the financial division of the company continues hiring new employees.
  • The United Kingdom’s Starling Bank has become the first European neobank to break even, making a profit of GBP 800,000 in October 2020. This is more than 4 times its revenue in October 2019.

Russia

  • Yandex is developing a strategy for entering the financial market and plans to issue its first loans and cards within a year.
  • Galina Kharnahoeva, co-founder of the communication agency Kabarga, explains why TikTok is an important platform for modern financial institutions to pay attention to.
  • According to a Boston Consulting Group (BCG) rating, technology companies prefer not to work in Russia.
  • Aleksey Petrov, co-founder and director of the open banking platform APIBank and co-founder of the internet-based accounting firm My Business, discusses why digital transformation is not about recruiting developers but is really about looking at the world and products in different ways.
  • The latest from Russian financial institutions:
    • Pochta Bank now greets customers at its branch locations by name.
    • Raiffeisenbank plans to accelerate the delivery of bank cards using Yandex and Edisoft technologies.
    • VTB has launched a mobile cashier for businesses.
    • Tinkoff has been recognized as the best online retail bank in the world.

Ukraine

  • Voting has begun for the 5th annual PaySpace Magazine Awards. Voting will continue until the end of December on categories such as Best FinTech Startup, Best Online Payment Service and Best Internet Banki. Results will be announced on January 28, 2021.
  • Concord Bank has launched its Open Banking and Processing Program, which aims to help FinTech startups reach a global level of business development.
  • Bills are under consideration in Ukraine’s parliament to limit interchange rates in the country. This could impact Ukraine’s payments market and even lead to a collapse of the country’s cashless economy.

Kazakhstan

  • The head of the Kazakhstani subsidiary of Sberbank, Eldar Tenizbayev, gave an interview to Forbes in which he spoke about the digital transformation of the bank and why he continues to invest offline.
  • The head of the Agency for the Regulation and Development of the Financial Market (ARRFM), Madina Abylkassymova, presented a new concept for the development of the financial sector through 2030.
  • Data Scientist Asylzhan Akinova describes the situation with data science and related startups in Kazakhstan. According to her, Central Asian countries represent a blank slate on the maps of investors, meaning they view Central Asia as a real opportunity.

Kyrgyzstan

  • As of the end of the third quarter of 2020, there are almost 11,700 POS terminals in Kyrgyzstan through which residents have made purchases amounting to KGS 12.4 billion (22.8% more year-on-year).

Uzbekistan

  • HUMOPay service will soon be available in other financial institutions than just Apelsin. The technology allows users to easily make payments using their phones by confirming them with their fingerprints.

Azerbaijan

  • Visa and the Azericard processing center are cooperating in the development of innovative digital payment solutions in Azerbaijan. The partnership with Azericard is expected to open up prospects for the development of the the country’s payment ecosystem as well as allow Visa to create new and more convenient digital services.

Georgia

  • The 10-day Touch Digital Summit 2020 online conference has kicked off in Georgia. More than 1,000 participants from all over the world are taking part in it, including representatives of Google, Facebook, Deloitte, VICE, DeviantArt, Tesla and Rotten Tomatoes.
  • Global Finance has included Bank of Georgia in its list of the best providers of digital loan products in Central and Eastern Europe.

Prepared by BFC