Biz Builder Mike

You can't sail Today's boat on Yesterdays wind - Michael Noel

German Digital Bank Insha Attracts €2.5 Million in Seed Funding From Payment Provider Param

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Insha, a Germany-based online banking startup, announced on Tuesday it secured €2.5 million in seed funding from payments provider, Param. Founded in 2018, Insha states it offers an innovative and fully digital account based on the principles and does not engage in interest-based transactions or investment in socially destructive areas.

“As a digital banking service based on strong moral principles, we offer tools that help its customers achieve their saving goals, gain insights into spending behavior, transfer money abroad for little cost, and donate easily to charities of their choice. With offices in Berlin and Istanbul, insha is regulated by EU authorities and fully backed by Albaraka Türk, Turkey’s first participation bank.”

Speaking about the investment, Yakup Sezer, Founder and Managing Director of Insha reportedly stated:

“I am very pleased that Param, a Turkish fintech pioneer, has joined our family. This investment will not only strengthen our financial position while we continue our European expansion. Param also brings a wealth of relevant experience. The money will help to optimize and localize our activities in line with our expansion strategy. I am very excited to move into the future together and would like to thank Param again for her confidence in our team, our business model and our vision.”

Insha added that in 2021 it is looking to introduce Principled digital accounts to six more countries in Europe.

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Accenture to Invest $3 Billion in Fintech Initiatives that Will Help Companies become Cloud First Businesses

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David Jimenez Maireles, Customer Experience Officer at TNEX, a Vietnam based digital bank, claims that despite the skeptics, banks have been “no laggard when it comes to cloud adoption.”

Banks have been migrating incrementally, and today “the average bank has 58% of its workloads in the cloud—mostly in private cloud centers,” according to a recent report from Accenture.

The report notes:

“Many banking CEOs today believe if they had been more in the public cloud, the last few months (during the Coronavirus pandemic) would have been a lot easier. The Cloud will be both transformational and disruptive post-COVID-19, offering banks improved scalability, efficiency, agility and security. Cloud maturity is becoming a hallmark of the world’s best-performing banks.”

Cloud-powered technologies are increasingly being adopted by financial service providers across the globe. As covered, Australian SME banking challenger Judo Bank will be using the Cloud based bank operating system developed by nCino.

The Qatar Financial Center Regulatory Authority (QFCRA) recently revealed that it will be migrating its online services to the Microsoft Cloud in order to move forward with its digital transformation strategy.

There are many other related technologies such as low-code platforms that are being developed around Cloud solutions so that businesses are able to streamline their operations.

In a recent interview with Crowdfund Insider, Michael Rennie, Product Manager at Mendix, a Siemens business and global leader in enterprise low-code, explained that low-code enables organizations to move quickly to deliver unique and useful cloud-native applications that can scale and take on high volumes of traffic.

As noted in Accenture’s report, the skeptics or industry participants who doubted that Cloud based models could work had pointed out that there were security issues, lack of regulatory clarity, and “potential competitive issues with the largest cloud service providers and the seductive economics of fully depreciated data centers.”

The report also mentioned:

“The [Cloud] debate continues, but the evangelists have gradually gained the upper hand: Cloud investment has grown strongly in recent years and is forecast to continue at 15 percent a year between now and 2022.”

It added:

“More than half of [Accenture’s] top banking clients have adopted a multi-cloud strategy. We believe that, to an increasing degree, this suits the requirements of most banks. Key benefits include: best-of-breed services, autonomy and agility, regulatory compliance, and cost reduction.”

The report from Accenture further noted that Cloud solutions help reduce operational costs up to 20%. They can also reduce time to market by as much as 50% while offering around 50% quicker provisional speed.

Accenture revealed that it’s planning to invest $3 billion, over the next 3 years, in projects that will help its clients with becoming “Cloud first” businesses.

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Standard Chartered Launches Virtual Bank “Mox” in Hong Kong

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UK banking group Standard Chartered Bank announced on Tuesday it has officially launched its virtual bank “Mox” in Hong Kong. According to Standard Chartered, Mox was created in partnership with PCCW, HKT, and Trip.com, which provides its suite of retail banking services entirely digitally over its app. 

“With Mox, opening an account is fast, secure and free. Within minutes, customers can enjoy a whole new way of smarter banking, saving and spending. Mox is also taking the lead in launching Asia’s first all-in-one numberless bank card, further enhancing privacy and security for customers”

Speaking about Mox’s debut in Hong Kong, Bill Winters, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered PLC, stated:

“The launch of Mox demonstrates the pace at which Standard Chartered is executing and moving on its strategic objectives, innovating and disrupting across our markets through digitisation. We’re now combining our heritage as the oldest note issuing bank in Hong Kong with being the newest virtual bank in the city, providing customers with an even broader array of banking options to meet their different needs, preferences and lifestyles.”

Deniz Güven, CEO of Mox, further noted it took two years to get the digital bank up and running in Hong Kong.

“We hope to takeStandard Chartered’s commitment tocustomer experience, innovation and financial inclusionto the next level.”

Mox is now offering 1% in Unlimited Cashback everywhere along until December 31st, and 5% Super Cashbank through its Founding Merchants up to HKD1,000.  Mox is now available on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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