Top five stories of the week – 5 August 2022

Here’s our pick of five of the top news stories from the world of finance and tech this week.

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Italian paytech Nexi partners Microsoft to develop digital payments solutions

Italian paytech Nexi has partnered with Microsoft to develop cloud and digital payments solutions for European software vendors, financial institutions, SMEs and other public-facing organisations.

Nexi has tapped the tech giant for its Azure Cloud services as the paytech looks to consolidate its data centres across Europe and further digitise its platforms and solutions.

The strategic partnership will see the pair work together to “digitise the European payments space”, developing unified digital upgrade packages for SMEs, scalable cloud infrastructure for public entities and optimised payments solutions for corporates.

Read more here

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Rêv acquires Global Payments’ card business Netspend in $1bn deal

Texas-based fintech Rêv Worldwide, in partnership with funds advised by Searchlight Capital, is set to acquire the Netspend consumer business from Global Payments in an all-cash transaction worth $1 billion.

Netspend, which was founded by Rêv founders Roy and Bertrand Sosa in 1999, is a provider of payments and financial solutions for consumers and businesses.

The company operates in the prepaid and debit card space, serving millions of customers across the US and processing hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of cardholder purchases.

The Sosa brothers intend to combine the strengths of both firms to deliver “financial empowerment and product innovation”.

Read more here

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Robinhood to cut 23% of staff, crypto unit fined $30m

Stock trading app Robinhood is to cut almost a quarter of its staff while its crypto arm has been fined $30 million by New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS) for “significant anti-money laundering, cybersecurity and consumer protection violations”.

The decision to shed 23% of its workforce follows a “broader company reorganisation into a general manager structure”, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev says.

The news follows a previous round of layoffs in April, with the firm cutting 9% of its full-time workforce. These cuts “did not go far enough”, Tenev says now.

In another headache for Robinhood, its crypto division has been fined $30 million by New York State’s Department of Financial Services.

The agency claims Robinhood failed to maintain effective and compliant Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), AML and cybersecurity programmes and violated consumer and reporting requirements.

Read more here

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American Express launches cross-border payments solution for US SMBs

American Express is launching a new digital solution called Global Pay that will enable US businesses to make domestic and international B2B payments.

The firm says that through the Global Pay platform, businesses can send payments from their business bank accounts to their suppliers in more than 40 countries in multiple currencies. Customers can also earn membership rewards points on their FX payments.

Dean Henry, executive vice president of global commercial services at American Express, says the firm built Global Pay to enable businesses to “easily and effectively manage their B2B payments globally on a secure platform”.

Read more here

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Dubai BNPL firm Tabby secures $150m debt financing

Dubai-based paytech Tabby has secured $150 million in debt financing from Atalaya Capital Management and existing investor Partners for Growth.

The new debt commitment follows Tabby’s $54 million Series B extension in March this year.

Tabby says the investment “fortifies” its balance sheet and supports its sustained growth in transaction volumes and product expansion.

It adds that it will continue to provide Middle East and North Africa (MENA) consumers with access to credit “otherwise unavailable to them”, without charging any interest or other fees.

Read more here