This week in BFS: Digital transformation strategies led by AI take the wheel as banks look to expand geographical & technological boundaries

Banks and Financial Institutions are increasingly adopting digital solutions to power banking and help their customers utilize the best of this digital era.

Banks are also beginning to leverage analytics to drive hyper-personalization in the form of Next Best Product (NBP) offerings based on customers’ financial history, requirements, and personalized risk assessments.

• HDFC Bank launched Har Gaon Hamara, an Interactive Voice Response (IVR), to help the farmers meet their financial needs at the doorstep and choose the right financial products for them.
• HSBC launched its new Smart Mobile Onboarding feature for customers in China. The bank will allow customers to open Category I RMB accounts through their mobile, thereby enhancing service convenience and accessibility.
• Leading payments processor Razorpay in partnership with Mastercard has launched MandateHQ, a product to help banks comply with the Reserve Bank of India’s guidelines on recurring payments.
• Veritran has partnered with Revelock to integrate the latter’s Fraud Detection & Response (FDR) platform into their Security Suite to help banks verify user’s identity and automatically protect them from malware, phishing and account takeover attempts, while unobtrusively ensuring a secure customer experience.

Key Funding Alert

Indian FinTech firms valuations rocket, Pine Labs value rises USD 1.5 bn in seven months
Mastercard-backed Indian merchant commerce platform Pine Labs, which became a Unicorn in May 2018, has now notched a USD 3.5 bn valuation in the latest funding round. The round makes Pine Labs one of India’s highest-valued and most well-capitalized fintech companies, behind IPO-bound Paytm and Walmart-backed PhonePe. Read more>>

Startup Spotlight

Company – Wingocard
Total Funding – USD 1.7 Mn
HQ Location – Montreal, Canada Area
Year of Establishment – 2019
About: Wingocard is a mobile banking app designed for teens and parents. It allows parents to instantly transfer money and control how it is spent. The app, in partnership with Visa debit cards, allow teens to purchase items anywhere and send and receive money to friends and family.
Read more>>

Deals and Deal Renewal
Axis selects AWS for e-services
As part of a multi-year agreement, Axis Bank will utilize AWS services to build a portfolio of new digital financial services to bring advanced banking experiences to customers. This includes online accounts that can be opened in under six minutes and instant digital payments, helping the bank increase customer satisfaction by 35% and lower costs by 24%. Read More>>
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP to support Security Bank with digital transformation
Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP will enable Security Bank to improve efficiencies and deliver enterprise data business intelligence across the organization. The bank’s primary focus will be to modernize and streamline its financial processes, help eliminate human error and provide integrated financial analysis across all its business units. Read More>>
Mastercard selects Fime to test solutions for quantum computing
Fime is offering to consult and test expertise to enable fast, secure, and effortless contactless payments. Allowing consumers, merchants, and financial institutions to benefit from enhanced convenience while building trust and maintaining privacy will be one of the key focus areas for both companies as further developments in quantum computing are tested. Read More>>
Euronext-backed Liquidshare adopts Daml for smart contracts
Liquidshare has chosen Sextant for Daml, the blockchain and smart contract management, and operations solution offered by Blockchain Technology Partners (BTP), in order to deliver its post-trade offering. Daml has a solid potential to embed business logic and build multiparty business processes easily and rapidly. Read More>>
BNP Paribas CIB signs a 10-year agreement for FIS’ Cleared Derivatives suite
The bank is working with FIS to transition to the new leading-edge technology of FIS’ Cleared Derivatives Suite. The FIS platform centralizes all main post-trade workflows onto a single, unified global system. BNP Paribas expects to benefit from significant operational efficiencies, enhanced reactivity, and reduced risk by moving to the new FIS platform. Read More>>

Partnerships
Credit Suisse and KLARA partner in open banking for private clients
KLARA’s ePost app will communicate with the online banking system of Credit Suisse based on the bLink interface that will enable remote clients to make payments directly from their Credit Suisse account using the new ePost app without a separate login procedure. Read More>>
Emirates partners with Deutsche Bank to launch new payment solution
Based on real-time payments, Emirates Pay, a new account-based payment method for purchasing air tickets, is Emirate’s alternative payment solution for its customers. Emirates became the world’s first airline to launch this payment alternative powered by a white-label solution jointly developed by IATA in partnership with Deutsche Bank. Read More>>
BpiFrance and Mubadala form African Private Equity Platform
Through this new program, the two partners intend to make joint investments in top-tier African private equity and venture capital funds, with a focus on regional, multi-country and pan-African funds and fund managers with a proven track record, building upon the expertise and network of Bpifrance. Read More>>
AMEX and Bangkok Bank announce partnership to expand AMEX Card acceptance across Thailand
Under the partnership, Bangkok Bank will sign up merchants to accept American Express cards in Thailand and provide American Express Card Members and merchants with access to Bangkok Bank’s vast contactless Electronic Data Capture (EDC) and POS terminal network.  Read More>>
Softbank-backed delivery app Rappi partners with Visa to launch credit cards in Brazil
Rappi partnered with Visa Inc. to offer credit cards for its users, marking the two companies’ fourth collaboration in Latin America. Rappi plans to expand its financial products portfolio further as competition in the payments sector heats up in Latin America. Read More>>
RAKBANK agrees MoU with Ajman Free Zone for SME financing
National Bank of Ras Al Khaimah (RAKBANK) will offer SMEs and larger businesses based in the Ajman Free Zone easy access to multiple banking solutions. Services such as account opening, loans, credit facilities, business loans, term, and working capital financing, asset-based financing, as well as cash management services will be some of the prime offerings. Read More>>
RHB Bank integrates DuitNow QR via API connectivity
The surge in RHB’s merchant transactions over the past year has led the banking group to integrate DuitNow’s QR via API. Through this integration, all payments made using DuitNow QR are automatically captured and reconciled within the merchants’ payment system, including those made via the terminal payment system. Read More>>

Mergers and Acquisitions 
Affiliated Managers Group (AMG) to invest in Parnassus
After the transaction, Parnassus partners will continue to own a substantial portion of the equity of the firm and direct its day-to-day operations consistent with AMG’s partnership approach, which is recognized by the marketplace for preserving the operational and investment independence of AMG Affiliates. Read More>>
Bank of Queensland completes acquisition of ME Bank
The bank has completed its acquisition of Members Equity Bank (ME Bank) for a cash consideration of USD 1.325 bn, passing ownership from the industry super funds. BOQ directors would remain in the existing positions on the BOQ board and replace the ME Bank board, with all current ME Bank board members resigning. Read More>>
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group to acquire 74.9 percent stake in FICC for USD 2 bn
Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) is set to acquire a 74.9 percent stake in Fullerton India Credit Company (FICC), an NBFC that offers credit to retail as well as small businesses, for about USD 2 bn. Through this investment, SMFG will gain a retail finance platform in India, which is essential for its Asia franchise. Read More>>
Wells Fargo acquires stake in Fintech firm Theta Lake
The company has acquired a stake in Theta Lake, an established provider of compliance and security solutions for chat, video, and voice collaboration tools. Theta Lake has partner integrations with more than 40 vendors. They include Cisco Webex, Microsoft Teams, RingCentral, Slack, and Zoom – enabling compliance teams to gain archive access to video, voice, chat, and documents (shared during online sessions). Read More>>
SVB Financial Group completes acquisition of Boston Private
SVB Financial Group, the parent of Silicon Valley Bank, has completed the acquisition of Boston Private Financial Holdings, Inc. The combined private banking and wealth management business will be led by Anthony DeChellis, CEO of SVB Private Banking & Wealth Management, and Yvette Butler, President of SVB Private Banking & Wealth Management. Read More>>
Genstar Capital to acquire a majority stake in Foreside Financial Group
Genstar Capital, a leading private equity firm, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Foreside Financial Group from Lovell Minnick Partners. Foreside provides a robust offering of distribution solutions, risk management, and compliance solutions to clients in asset and wealth management industries. Read More>>.

Executive Movement
Akhil Handa to lead Bank of Baroda’s digital transformation as Chief Digital Officer
Prior to this position, Handa was appointed as the Head (Fintech, Partnerships, Mobile Banking) & Digital Lending Department. In his new role, Handa expects to transform BOB’s core assets, build strategic partnerships via API connectivity, and lead the bank towards a more digital future. Read More>>
Capital Group hires T.Rowe Price executive Murray Brewer
Murray Brewer joins from T.Rowe Price where he was director, country head of distribution for Australia and New Zealand. Murray has a track record in identifying and developing products and services that give Australians the best investment and savings outcomes over the long term. Read More>>
Credit Suisse appoints Joane Hannaford as Chief of Technology & Operations
Joanne Hannaford will assume her new position from January 1, 2022, and will become a member of the Executive Board of Credit Suisse Group. Joanne will be based in Zürich and report directly to the Group CEO, Thomas Gottstein. Read More>>
Deutsche Bank hires five senior wealth managers from UBS
Led by Raoul Zehnder, the team will serve wealthy customers and the family offices that manage their wealth. Zehnder will assume the role on October 1, joined by senior relationship managers Patrik Minuscoli and Michael von Mecklenburg, senior investment manager Philipp Portenier, and account manager Vincent Weisse. Read More>>
Kaushal Shah to become new Head (ECM Origination) at Kotak Investment Banking
Kaushal Shah, a chartered accountant, and alumnus of Indian School Business, has been with Kotak Investment Banking for more than 16 years. In the ECM segment, the company has worked on transactions like the Burger King IPO, Gland Pharma IPO, and QIPs by HDFC Ltd & ICICI Bank and the Reliance Rights Issue. Read More>>

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