BFC FinTech Monitor 1st – 8th May

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:

Analysts at USB Group AG, the largest Swiss financial holding company, are predicting that the FinTech market could grow from USD 150 billion in 2018 to as much as USD 500 billion in 2030.
Bottomline Technologies Inc. has released a report on major global banking and payment trends.
Ripple has joined international standardization body ISO 20022, which has the goal of establishing standards for payments and other data exchanges between financial institutions at an international level.
An RBR analysis of 23 markets around the world has shown an increase in video banking popularity since the COVID-19 outbreak, including the use of video banking for applying for mortgages, ordering a new bank card, etc.
With more FinTech startups than any other country in Latin America, Brazil has a real chance to become the next global center for financial technology.

Russia:

Raiffeisenbank has completed a pilot project allowing customers to pay for purchases using a selfie. A post-pilot survey indicates that 90% of pilot participants are ready to continue using this service.
Rusbase has updated its map of Russian FinTech startups and published a complementary list of companies that have closed their doors.

Ukraine:

PaySpace Magazine’s internet portal is hosting its first open online conference on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (EU) and its implications in post-Soviet countries.
Moneyveo, Ukraine’s first online lending service, now has more than 900,000 customers and has issued loans worth more than UAH 14 billion in total.
The National Bank of Ukraine is developing a strategy to develop financial technologies through 2025. This strategy includes the introduction of a regulatory sandbox for quickly testing innovative projects and the launch of an academic base that has a focus on open banking.
Two bots have been discovered in Telegram messenger looking for the personal data of Ukrainian users. One bot has already been removed, and the other is still active. Many experts believe these bots are using data stolen from a PrivatBank database.

Belarus:

FinTech hub FTh and the BEROC Economic Research Center have updated their map of the Belarusian FinTech market. The map reveals that most Belarusian FinTechs are active in the payment services industry.

Uzbekistan:

The National Interbank Processing Center has completed its testing of HUMOPay, an analogue of Apple Pay in Uzbekistan. The service is expected to be available in the mobile applications of a number of Uzbek financial institutions in the near future.
Uzbekistan has approved procedures for issuing and circulating electronic money that define Central Banks and financial institutions as issuers, legal entities as operators and other actors as owners.
The director of the National Interbank Processing Center recently discussed Uzbekistan’s cashless payments market and new HUMO projects.

Kazakhstan:

Kazakhstani FinTech startup Wooppay has entered the Tajikistani market and plans to develop mobile wallets, services for entrepreneurs to accept card payments on websites and applications and an e-commerce platform for mobile operators.
The efforts of online scammers have intensified in Kazakhstan, including scams that impersonate security officers from financial institutions.

Armenia:

VTB and Mastercard have increased the maximum amount for payments that do not require a PIN code to be entered for authentication from AMD 10,000 to AMD 20,000.

Azerbaijan:

This year’s World Net Summit will be held online May 11-15, with a focus on government strategies in a post-pandemic world, investor actions, FinTech industry problems and the general state of the startup ecosystem.