Ep. 273. News: The zombie account scenario

Our hosts Simon and Leda are joined by Dave Cunningham, CEO of Priviti and Ryan Weeks, Editor at Altfi.

First up, Swiss banks raided by antitrust watchdog over mobile payment allegations. A group of Swiss banks are under investigation by the country's antitrust authorities over whether they boycotted mobile payment services from Apple and Samsung in order to improve the prospects of their own competitive offering called Twint. Offices at UBS, Credit Suisse, PostFinance, Swisscard AECS, and Aduno Holding, have been raided by Comco over allegations that they deliberately refused to release their debit cards for use by Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Twint a mobile-payment app developed by Postfinance and used by the bank named in the complaint expressed "astonishment" at the watchdog's actions.

Tandem Bank strikes HK deal to launch digital banking in Asia. Tandem Bank is set to strike a deal with Hong Kong’s Convoy Global Holdings, as part of a plan to secure funding and launch one of the first digital banks in Hong Kong
Convoy is planning to take a £15m stake in Tandem, one of the first app-based banks in the UK, to become the digital lender’s second-largest shareholder, according to people close to the companies.

We can’t talk about Tandem and not do their stories in a pair. Tandem has also teamed up with Stripe to launch its new Auto Savings service. It lets customers set up rules to automatically move money from their current accounts with other providers to a savings account with Tandem. The feature’s available through Tandem’s banking app, aggregating financial data from across all of a user’s accounts to offer them personalized feedback on how they’re managing their money.

We spoke to Tandem CEO, Ricky Knox to tell us more about both of these stories.

People who use mobile fintech apps tend to make worse financial decisions. A study of mobile-payment using millennials (ages 18-34) in the US found they were less likely to be financially literate than others of the same age who didn’t pay for things with their phones. They were also more likely to make other bad financial decisions, according to research by the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center at the George Washington School of Business. 1/4 of people who use their phones to track spending reported overdrawing their accounts, compared with 20% of those who didn’t use their phones for this.

Nationwide takes stake in Moneyhub. Nationwide Building Society is dipping into its £50M venture fund to take a minority stake in UK-based personal financial management app Moneyhub. Moneyhub is the third startup to benefit from the Nationwide fintech fund after acasa and Hazy. Moneyhub recently secured Payment Initiation Services Provider (PISP) authorisation by the FCA, the firm already operates as an Account Information Services Provider (AISP). The company also offers users a series of smart nudges that proactively alert consumers to overspending or better interest rate offers.

We spoke to Emma Huntington, Leader in Financial Services Strategy and Innovation at Nationwide to give us their perspective on this partnership. We also spoke to Sam Seaton, CEO of Moneyhub to get her thoughts on this investment as well.

Which? ranks highest and lowest banks of 2018. Which? surveyed thousands of current account customers and ask them to rate the service they receive and assigned each account a Which? Customer Score. Which? Then independently rate 40 providers to create a Product Score based on 38 different elements of bank accounts, including rewards, benefits, fees, charges and how users can operate the account.

AlipayHK wins bid to provide QR code payment solution for Hong Kong’s MTR. AlipayHK says it has won a bid to provide a QR code mobile payment solution for Hong Kong’s MTR railway system. Commuters will have the option of entering MTR stations by linking their AlipayHK account to a separate MTR app, and scanning a QR code on their smartphones on the readers installed at the entry gates. Users of the mainland Alipay wallet will also be able to link their accounts to the MTR app for payment, according to people familiar with the matter. The aim is to have the new mobile payment system roll out to 91 of 93 MTR stations across the city by mid-2020.

Plastiq raises $27M at 2X+ value to let you pay for anything on credit. Kleiner Perkins has just led a $27 million Series C for Plastiq with partner Ilya Fushman joining the board. A source says the raise that also comes from DST Global between doubles and triples Plastiq’s valuation over its 2017 Series B-1 rounds of $11 million and $16 million. That’s $73M in total funding. For a flat 2.5 percent fee, customers use Plastiq through a credit card, and it issues the proper wire transfer, check or deposit for up to $500,000, or even more, on customers behalf.

Your salary tomorrow, today! CYBG has agreed a £400M deal to fund loans through UK fintech group Salary Finance
Salary Finance, whose founders include the former head of Google UK, enables employees to take out loans that are then repaid automatically through their employer’s payroll system. Deducting repayments automatically from salaries makes the loans more secure and attractive to banks, allowing them to extend credit at a cheaper rate than credit cards or payday loans.

And Finally...

It’s wingardium levi-O-sa, not wingardium leviosarr! Hundreds of Apple stores are going to start selling this British startup's 'Harry Potter' coding wand. Computing and coding startup Kano is going to release its 'Harry Potter' coding wand in hundreds of Apple stores. CEO and founder Alex Klein told Business Insider that Apple approached Kano to get the wands into stores. From December to January people will be able to demo the wand in stores. British coding and computing startup Kano has struck a partnership with Apple to sell its "Harry Potter"-themed coding wand in more than 300 Apple stores across the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand in December.

All this and so much more on today's episode of Fintech Insider!
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This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins, written by Dhanum Nursigadoo and edited by Alex Woodhouse.

Special Guests: Dave Cunningham and Leda Glyptis.

Links:

• Swiss banks raided by anti-trust watchdog over mobile payment alleg...
• Tandem Bank strikes HK deal to launch digital banking in Asia | Financial Times
• Tandem Teams Up With Stripe to Launch Auto Savings Service | Crowdfund Insider
• Millennial mobile-payment users tend to make worse financial decisions — Quartz
• Nationwide takes stake in Moneyhub
• Best and worst banks - Which?
• AlipayHK wins bid to provide QR code payment solution for Hong Kong’s MTR | South China Morning Post
• Plastiq raises $27M at 2X+ value to let you pay for anything on credit – TechCrunch
• CYBG to fund loans paid back through employers | Financial Times
• Kano will start selling its Harry Potter coding wand in Apple stores - Business Insider