Zen.com Expands to Southeast Asia

Zen.com Expands to Southeast Asia
Zen.com Expands to Southeast Asia

Hey FinTech Fanatic!

Polish FinTech Zen.com is making its way into Southeast Asia, establishing a new office in Singapore. Focused on simplifying payments, the company is positioning itself between Europe and Asia, working to make cross-border transactions more seamless for businesses and individuals.

This expansion comes through a partnership with Singapore’s M-DAQ Global, allowing Zen.com customers to open virtual accounts in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. They’ll be able to send and receive money as if they had local bank accounts, starting with same-day local transfers, lower FX costs, and improved e-commerce support.

Now, why Singapore? It’s not just about the skyline or the business-friendly environment. In recent years, the country has become a FinTech hotspot, drawing major players eager to tap into Asia’s booming digital economy - Revolut has been making moves here too!

To drive its growth, Zen.com has brought in industry veterans. Rakesh Krishnamuti, with experience at Citibank, PayPal, and Mastercard, steps in as Chief Commercial Officer. Deanson Yeo, an expert in banking and payments, will lead partnerships.

Read more global FinTech industry updates below 👇 and I'll be back on Monday!

Cheers,

Marcel


FINTECH NEWS

🇸🇪 'Klarnageddon': Employees in limbo as FinTech startup preps for IPO. Employees whose positions have been eliminated remain on the payroll while seeking new roles within the company. If a suitable position is not found, they may be offered an exit package or opt to resign.

🇮🇳 State Bank of India to set up an AI FinTech project finance unit. The strategy is set to diversify its project finance efforts, as well as target sectors that are currently benefiting from increased infrastructure spending under the government upgrades.


PAYMENTS NEWS

🇵🇪 Lemon launches the VISA Lemon Card powered by Pomelo, allowing users in Peru to make payments at any merchant worldwide that accepts VISA, using soles or cryptocurrencies, and earn Bitcoin cashback on all purchases. This alliance represents a key step in the adoption of crypto asset payments in LatAm.

🌍 B2B payment platform Nilos expands to West Africa. As part of its mission to simplify cross-border transactions, the company is introducing instant payouts in the West African CFA franc (XOF) and integrating mobile money services to enhance accessibility for businesses and individuals.

🇺🇸 Mastercard moves to end manual card entry as fraud losses projected to exceed $91b by 2028. The company introduced tokenization to replace actual card numbers with randomly generated tokens for better security. It is working with banks, FinTechs, and merchants to implement a universal one-click checkout button across all online platforms.

🇬🇧 Mastercard joins Visa and Revolut in claim against UK payments regulator. The companies are challenging certain regulatory decisions made by the FCA, which they argue are unfair or detrimental to their operations. This lawsuit underscores tensions between financial institutions and regulators over payment rules.

🇺🇸 Sezzle adds smarter spending features to BNPL platform to make shopping smarter, simpler, and more transparent. With the Sezzle app, consumers can shop anywhere and instantly find the best deals, reinforcing Sezzle's mission to financially empower the next generation.


REGTECH NEWS

🌍 OKX acquires MiFID II license in Europe. The license will enable the platform to launch derivative products and services for institutional clients across the region. This underscores the company's commitment to meet European compliance standards and the trading community's needs.

🇦🇪 Ripple secures DFSA License to offer regulated crypto payments. The approval makes Ripple’s seamless global payments product available for businesses in the UAE, and reinforces its role as a trusted partner for financial institutions using digital assets to drive real-world utility.

🇦🇪 Finseta secures licence to expand payment services in the UAE. This license allows the company to offer multi-currency accounts and payment services to businesses and individuals across the country through its proprietary technology platform.


DIGITAL BANKING NEWS

🇺🇸 Evolve Bank says documents reveal Synapse inconsistencies. It's been close to a year since Synapse went bankrupt, and it was discovered that customers' money totaling tens of millions of dollars was missing. The bank released account statements that appear to show inaccurate and misleading bookkeeping on Synapse's part.

🇺🇸 FinTech Neobank Mercury severs its relationship with Evolve Bank. The decision comes after a slate of operational issues at the bank unfolded in public view. The company plans to finish the migration of its customers from Evolve to one of its other bank partners by the end of this year. 

🇰🇷 K bank pursues IPO for third time. The bank's board of directors approved a resolution to move forward with an initial public offering. The latest IPO push comes after the bank reported a profitable year last year, posting a record 128.1 billion won in annual net profit.

🇬🇧 Revolut is hiring hundreds of new staff as it prepares to launch its UK bank. The UK banking unit has grown from a team of 35 to over 100, mainly through hires and internal transfers since receiving its restricted license last summer. The company is hiring from regulatory reporting analysts to financial risk controllers.

🇸🇬 ZEN.COM has announced the opening of its new office in Singapore, marking a significant step in its expansion across Southeast Asia. The Singapore hub will serve as a key operational center, strengthening the company’s presence in the region and fostering closer collaboration with partners and customers.

🇺🇸 SoFi expands loan platform business with $5 billion agreement with Blue Owl Capital Funds. The deal with Blue Managed Funds reflects the growing demand for personal loans from members and debt investors and advances its strategy to diversify revenue streams with less capital-intensive and more fee-based sources of revenue.


BLOCKCHAIN/CRYPTO NEWS

🇧🇷 Bezos-backed Stark Bank targets Brazilian crypto businesses. The Sao Paulo-based business bank is working with 52 firms focused on digital currencies and blockchain technologies, including Mercado Bitcoin Servicos Digitais, Transfero Swiss AG, and Binance Holdings, CEO Rafael Stark said. 

🇦🇪 Crypto.com to become exclusive crypto partner for Tawasal Al Khaleej. The integration will unfold in two stages: Tawasal will first refer Crypto.com to local and Middle Eastern partners, expanding its regional presence. Then, Crypto.com will be integrated into Tawasal’s Superapp, offering its services to nearly 4 million users.

🇦🇷 Binance recognizes Argentina's growth in the crypto market. The country will be the headquarters for the new general management of the Southern Cone and will have an executive for that office who will report to Guilherme Nazar, Binance’s regional vice president for Latin America.

🇩🇪 Lightning-fast bitcoin payments with Bitwala. While Bitcoin offers unmatched security and sovereignty, the growing adoption created a challenge: high fees and slow transactions. The Lightning Network solves this by not compromising Bitcoin's core principles but building on them.

🇺🇸 Coca enters US crypto market with Ramp Network. This collaboration marks COCA’s official entry into the U.S. market, enabling millions of Americans to purchase cryptocurrency at market-leading rates and securely store it using Multi-Party Computation (MPC) technology.

🇬🇧 Circle plans to bring $1b tokenized treasury issuer Hashnote under Bermuda license. By integrating USYC with USDC, Circle aims to facilitate seamless transactions between yield-bearing assets and one of the most widely used stablecoins.

🇺🇸 Trump Crypto Venture has talked to Binance about doing business. Conversations have included the possibility of Binance developing a stablecoin, a dollar-backed cryptocurrency, with World Liberty, which President Donald Trump and his sons began promoting in September.


PARTNERSHIPS

🇦🇺 Boost Payment Solutions and transferMate collaborate on cross-border payments. This collaboration combines Boost's Boost 100XB solution with TransferMate's extensive payment infrastructure and aims to streamline processing and reconciliation for accounts payable and receivable teams dealing with international payments. 

🇸🇪 Safello teams up with Zumo to set the standard for sustainability in Sweden’s crypto sector. Through this collaboration, the exchange will leverage Zumo’s expertise in carbon calculations and crypto sustainability impact to ensure accurate and transparent sustainability disclosures.

🇬🇧 Apexx Global joins JPMorgan payments partner network. As merchants continue to demand more flexibility, speed, and choice in payments, they will provide a holistic solution that simplifies global transactions for merchants while optimizing acceptance rates and cost efficiencies.

🇬🇧 Curve and Infact partner to bolster financial inclusivity. Curve Flex will now have transactions reported in real-time through Infact’s API-based system, uniquely suited to represent Credit Card and BNPL activity accurately to enable customers to build credit profiles instantly.

🇦🇹 Santander and Amazon introduce Visa card in Austria that rewards customers with cashback for shopping on Amazon and other sites. The fee-free card does not require the opening of a new bank account. Keep reading

🌏 Pine Labs and Visa team up to offer Instalment Solutions in Southeast Asia. The collaboration will enable merchants more flexibility and affordability to offer seamless instalment payment options for domestic and cross-border transactions.

🇨🇭 Alpian Bank partners with Amex to bring clients even more benefits. Through this collaboration, Alpian clients can apply for the American Express Platinum Card®, gaining access to premium services such as travel benefits, concierge services, and various rewards.

🇦🇪 Mastercard partners with CredibleX to empower SMEs with enhanced access to financing. This innovative partnership provides CredibleX with enhanced data-driven insights based on anonymized and aggregated transaction data. It will empower small and medium enterprises by simplifying their access to financing.


DONEDEAL FUNDING NEWS

🇦🇷 Argentine FinTech N5 gets injection from Brazilian investors. This funding aims to support the company's expansion across Latin America, Europe, and the United States. Read more

🇪🇪 Estonia-based Blackwall raises €45 million Series B to protect SMBs from malicious online traffic. The funding will help further develop new products beyond its flagship product, GateKeeper, a reverse proxy that uses AI to inspect, analyze, and filter malicious traffic in real time.

🇮🇱 Rapyd raises $500m at $4.5b valuation to complete $610m PayU acquisition. Upon completion of the acquisition, the company will be able to execute transactions in over 100 countries using more than 1,200 payment methods. It will also hold a financial activity permit in 41 countries and maintain a wide range of partnerships.


M&A

🇮🇳 Groww in acquisition talks with PayU-backed Fisdom, others in diversification push. This potential acquisition aligns with Groww's strategy to diversify beyond its core derivative trading business, which has faced regulatory challenges affecting its user base.

🌍 Euronext scales up its SaaS offering with the acquisition of Admincontrol. The acquisition marks a significant milestone in the achievement of Euronext’s "Innovate for Growth 2027" strategy. This transaction will enhance its share of subscription-based revenue.

🇺🇸 Bilt Rewards snaps up Banyan to deepen merchant data and consumer insights. Bilt plans to leverage Banyan’s capabilities to expand into new merchant categories beyond dining, fitness, and pharmacy. The platform will enable consumer packaged goods companies to offer precise, product-specific rewards at the neighborhood level, significantly boosting marketing efficiency.

🇹🇷 FinTech Billionaire’s Firm Vyacheslav Kim’s Kaspi.kz JSC said in talks to buy Rabobank Turkey. The negotiations come after the Dutch firm’s failed attempts to sell the unit, first to cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk and then to construction conglomerate Ronesans Holding.

🇺🇸 Shift4 Payments has acquired Global Blue. This acquisition aims to enhance Shift4's merchant services platform by integrating Global Blue's tax refund processing and multi-currency conversion capabilities, thereby connecting merchants with a broader base of affluent international shoppers.

🇺🇸 MoonPay looks to compete with Stripe with Iron stablecoin acquisition. With the acquisition, the company is now expanding its capabilities to businesses, enabling them to accept stablecoin payments. This move paves the way for instant, cost-efficient, and borderless transactions.


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