Category: Financial Services

January 14, 2025 BY Sam Boughedda

Thunes and Hyperwallet Expand Payout Access Across Asia-Pacific

Hyperwallet is a PayPal service for global payouts. The partnership lets Hyperwallet's customers send real-time payments to over 450 million mobile wallets and bank accounts in countries including Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Vietnam. The company said the new alliance comes in response to the rapidly growing digital wallet usage in Asia-Pacific,…

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January 14, 2025 BY Sam Boughedda

Worldline Extends KBC Partnership in New 6-Year Agreement

The new six-year agreement will see Worldline continue to provide issuing and transaction processing services for KBC in the Belgian market. Furthermore, the renewed partnership is expected to build on a strong foundation of trust and co-creation between the two companies, aiming to support KBC's ambitions in the financial sector.  Worldline’s customer-centric solutions and service…

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Robinhood app on mobile
January 14, 2025 BY Sam Boughedda

Robinhood to Pay SEC £45m in Penalties

The SEC order found that Robinhood failed to comply with a broad spectrum of regulations.  These are said to include delays in investigating and reporting suspicious transactions, inadequate measures to safeguard customer data from identity theft, and failing to adequately address a cybersecurity breach that compromised user data.  “Today’s order finds that two Robinhood firms…

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HKEX
January 13, 2025 BY Sam Boughedda

OTC Clear to Accept China Government Bonds as Collateral for All Derivatives

The announcement follows approval from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), and the People's Bank of China. HKEX explained that the initiative allows international investors holding these bonds through Bond Connect to use them as margin collateral for OTC derivatives. Initially implemented for Northbound Swap Connect, OTC Clear expects…

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CME Group
January 13, 2025 BY Sam Boughedda

CME Group's International ADV Reaches a Record High in 2024

The derivatives marketplace firm said the growth reflects heightened trading activity outside the United States, driven by significant gains across various product categories. The Energy sector led the surge with a 31% increase in ADV, followed by Metals at 27%, Agricultural at 25%, Interest Rate products at 12%, and Foreign Exchange products at 10%.  "We…

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FINRA
January 10, 2025 BY Sam Boughedda

Investments for You Fined $25,000 for Supervisory Failures

The Ohio-based broker-dealer was found to have violated several FINRA rules between June 2020 and September 2024. According to FINRA’s investigation, Investments for You did not implement policies to comply with Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI), which mandates brokers to act in the best interest of retail customers.  “Investments for You failed to establish and…

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January 10, 2025 BY Sam Boughedda

Bank Alfalah Acquires 9.9% Stake in Jingle Pay

Describing Jingle Pay as “one of the fastest growing fintechs in the MENAP region,” Bank Alfalah said the investment highlights “its commitment to driving digital transformation.” Jingle Pay, well-known for its AI-powered tech stack, processed over 2 million transactions and facilitated more than $1 billion in international money transfers in 2024, saving customers over $6…

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Revolut
January 09, 2025 BY Sam Boughedda

Revolut Partners with Pyth Network as a Data Publisher

The collaboration allows digital banking firm Revolut to contribute its price data to the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Since its launch in 2015, Revolut has challenged traditional banks with services ranging from international money transfers to cryptocurrency trading.  The company now has over 45 million users across 200 countries. Through its partnership with Pyth Network,…

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January 09, 2025 BY Sam Boughedda

Easy Exchange Registration as Small Payment Institution Cancelled by FCA

The regulator’s action follows the firm's inability to meet essential conditions under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 (PSRs). Easy Exchange, which was registered to provide money remittance services, failed to submit the required annual regulatory reports, known as FSA057 returns, for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023.  Despite repeated reminders and warnings from the FCA,…

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FINRA building
January 09, 2025 BY Sam Boughedda

Fidelity Brokerage Services Hit with $600,000 Fine

The fine comes as the regulator said the company failed to adequately supervise its employees' access to client data and the transmittal of funds from international stock plan services (SPS) accounts.  The violations, spanning from December 2012 to October 2020, resulted in an associated person converting approximately $750,000 from 37 international plan participants. FINRA's investigation…

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