Open Banking Expo, a global platform for Open Banking executives will bring the community together for a real-life event in London 4 November 2021. This feels like the right time for an Open Banking update as the scene is heating up with more and more companies embracing the technology that facilitates the opening up of banking data. The main interest is how Open Banking can generate revenue for the parties involved. Along with the gains the key issues are also safety and compliance. More than 80 speakers on five stages will inspire, moderate and progress the much awaited debate.

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Another stimulating move for the advancement of the FinTech revolution has been made by Ripple who launched a creator fund for NFT projects. Ripple is an innovative payment and currency exchange system relying on open source technology and the sum that they have donated is $250 million. The idea is to drive the creation and the adoption of non-fungible tokens which are surfacing as an alternative type of a digital asset. They have been most popular in the art world so far, but this is changing with examples from such sectors as nature conservation or real estate.

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Money injection has also been given to Prodigy Finance who is an education loans provider that supports people in obtaining postgraduate qualifications. They have just secured $500 million funding from CPP Investments which they plan to spend on the expansion of their offering to other countries such as Australia, China and Japan. Prodigy Finance is a purpose-driven company whose mission is to revitalise the global higher education sector. The idea is to promote financial inclusion by primarily focusing on low-income and female applicants.

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Prioritising financial inclusion and customer-centricity has been paying off to TransferGo – a leader in the sector of international money transfers for retail customers. They have just secured $50 million which they will invest in growing their customer base and developing their product. TransferGo is indisputably a high-achiever offering one of the fastest services on the market and registering 80% year on year growth since its launch. Now, their ambition is to grow 5 times in the next 3-4 years.

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Another heart-warming bit of FinTech news is about launching Daffy, a mobile app that uses technology to simplify and automate charity. It is based on a simple idea to put aside a chosen amount of money and invest it in three different portfolios: Standard, ESG and Crypto. The money stored on the app grows tax-free and can be donated any time to any charity based on one’s personal preference. Daffy was created by Adam Nash who was motivated by the success of Acorns where he contributes as the member of the Director Board.

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Their professional expertise has also inspired John MacIlwaine and Kin Kee, Braintree veterans who set out to create Highnote. It is a card-issuing startup that has just bagged $54 million funding to further define its offering. The service is aimed at small and medium-sized businesses and it vows to win over the legacy card-issuing platforms. This will be achieved through simplifying the processes of implementation and integration and an option to customise the platform following the needs of the specific client. The funding will be spent on growing the product and expanding the engineering team.

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