The very best of the UK fintechs were crowned last night at the UK FinTech Awards 2024. It was a fantastic evening, with the best and brightest from the UK fintech scene coming together to celebrate another brilliant year for the industry. There were hundreds of incredible submissions, and head judge Janine Hirt, chief executive officer of Innovate Finance, commented: “As Chair of the judging panel I can tell you that we had an incredibly difficult job this year! We were so impressed with the calibre of all of the nominees that it was a struggle to narrow it down to just one winner in each cat ..read more

Basware, a global leader in AP automation and invoice processing, has introduced AP Protect, an AI-powered solution that empowers finance teams to protect their organisations from the threat of profit loss, invoice errors and fraud. In 2023, Basware identified 10,800 incorrect payments made by companies for supplier invoices due to duplicate payments and fraud. This recovered the value of $191m from a spend of $245bn. On average, this prevented up to $1m in losses for $1bn spent by a company. Chief financial officers are under immense pressure to protect their profits from invoice fraud a ..read more

The Lithuania fintech sector remains robust and forward-moving, affirming its place as a key hub for fintech innovation in Europe. A recent report by Invest Lithuania highlights the sector’s continued development in the country throughout 2023, despite a challenging economic landscape worldwide.  Even as global fintech funding has dipped to its lowest point in seven years, the Lithuanian sector has maintained its ability to attract investors. This resilience underscores Lithuania’s commitment to fostering a welcoming and supportive environment for financial technology ..read more

Recently named as the fastest-growing UK fintech ever by Deloitte, Allica Bank has released its Annual Report for the year ending 31 December 2023, underlining a period of continued growth, strong financial metrics and watershed achievements. Since opening for lending in 2020, Allica is the UK’s only full-service digital bank built solely for established SME businesses. 2023 saw the bank accelerate its efforts to disrupt the SME banking market with a series of achievements: Public launch of its business current account – the ‘Business Rewards Account’ – which now has over 2,000 customers – al ..read more

Bluecode and Ant International have announced that they have forged a strategic partnership for Bluecode to become the latest Alipay+ mobile payment partner. The move will allow its users to make payments via Bluecode enabled apps at all Alipay+ supported stores in Europe, including tens of thousands in Germany alone ahead of UEFA EURO 2024.  Following the launch, the solution will be extended to countries outside of Europe, creating a bridge for European travellers who will be able to pay at any global merchant of Alipay+. Bluecode, a European open QR code payment scheme, is the first in ..read more

Moolahgo, a leading multi-currency digital payments organisation based in Singapore, proudly announces its partnership with The Social Security Agency for Employment in Indonesia-known as BPJS Ketenagakerjaan-to facilitate seamless employment social security contribution payments for Indonesian migrant workers. “BPJS Ketenagakerjaan is an institution officially appointed by the Indonesian government to administer social security to Indonesian migrant workers. BPJS Ketenagakerjaan is a social safety net for Indonesian migrant workers so that they do not fall into poverty due to employment injur ..read more

Nuke From Orbit, a UK security startup, has unveiled findings from its latest research report, ‘Evolving smartphone usage and the growing threat to consumers’. The report sheds light on a concerning trend in smartphone thefts, indicating that in 62% of cases in the UK the repercussions extend far beyond the initial loss of the device. Smartphones aren’t alone in this: the speed of evolution of challenger banks has seen both traditional banks and regulatory bodies at risk of falling behind. According to the research, not only were respondents’ social media and email accounts accessed, but ..read more

Leading insurtech Sprout.ai has released findings from its survey of UK and US insurance claims handlers, revealing 95% of claims handlers are confident technology will significantly impact claims processing in the next five years. The report reveals that—contrary to common fears about AI and automation displacing human workers—claims handlers see technology as an opportunity to improve processes, both for themselves and their customers. The research uncovers the most tedious elements of the claims processing role across the US and UK: 55% of respondents struggle with reviewing and p ..read more

Global financial technology company SumUp continues its industry leading ESG agenda, today announcing a raft of new actions and pledges as the company also builds on its initiatives from 2023, encouraging other financial companies to play their role in tackling social issues and mitigating climate change. The move comes not long after SumUp raised €285m to fuel their global expansion. The SumUp ESG framework is based on: environment, education, and entrepreneurship. SumUp, who were the first major fintech company to sign up to the 1% for the Planet project in 2022, pledging 1% of future net re ..read more

Pliant, a B2B credit card fintech based in Berlin, Germany, has raised over €18m in a Series A extension, bringing the round’s total sum to more than €50m. The latest round of funding was led by PayPal Ventures, with additional participation from existing investors Alstin Capital, SBI Investment and Motive Ventures. Pliant previously raised €28m via its initial Series A funding round in February this year, and will now seek to expand its cards-as-a-service (CaaS) product to markets beyond the European Union, starting with the UK. To support its planned expansion, the fintech has deve ..read more