327. News: Boom Time

This week we have some really interesting stories for you as David and Simon are joined by a couple of great guests:

• Gary Turner, a friend of the show and Co-founder and MD of Xero
• Helene Panzarino, MD of Rainmaking Colab
• Norris Koppel, CEO of Monese

We kick off the episode by talking about the third major acquisition this year: Global Payments buys TSYS for 21.5 billion dollars! The combined company will be lead by a 12 member board and go by the name Global Payments. Gary points out that with a name like Global Payments, the strategy is kind of hiding in plain sight and looking at the current state of the industry, there are quite a lot of things happening, particularly within payments. Also, try and say multi monolithic architecture after a glass of wine or two.

Next up, we talk about Revolut. Are they the most-complained-about small online bank? The bank, which has 2 million customers had 171 claims made against them between 2015 and 2018, compared to only 82 claims made against Monzo. Despite receiving more complaints compared to Monzo and similar online banks, the number is still far less than Barclays and Lloyds who both had more than 100 000 complaints made against them during the same time period! Simon argues the title is slightly misleading... and David agrees! It is making a lot of very little. It is also worth pointing out that Revolut has more features and products then Monzo, so is it really fair to compare them both?

Other stories include:

• NatWest is the “most complained about”
• Plaid comes to the UK
• A Goldman Sachs rival pulled out of the Apple Card deal on fears it will be a money loser
• Robinhood on track for at least $7 billion valuation with upcoming funding round
• French teen banking startup Pixpay raises EUR3.1m
• CBA invests heavily in tech-for-trust image rebuild
• NatWest apologises for patronising women, by patronising women

All this and so much more on today's show.

Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email [email protected]

This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse.

Special Guests: Gary Turner, Helene Panzarino , and Norris Koppel.

Links:

• Global Payments to buy TSYS for $21.5 billion in latest fintech deal - Reuters
• Revolut is the most complained-about small online bank, the Financial Ombudsman Service reveals  | This is Money
• NatWest most complained about bank for fraud claims - BBC News
• Silicon Valley fintech Plaid is launching in the UK — Quartz
• Goldman rival pulled out of Apple Card on fears it was money loser
• Robinhood on track for $7 billion valuation with new funding round
• French teen banking startup Pixpay raises EUR3.1m
• CBA invests heavily in tech-for-trust image rebuild
• NatWest apologises for patronising women, by patronising women | Creative Bloq