Monzo Co-Founder Jason Bates Plots to Build the Revolut of Private Banking By Reviving a Disgraced Monaco Bank 🇲🇨
We're also covering a fintech CEO closing $80M while recovering from brain surgery 🇨🇦, Alipay's voice payments smart glasses 🇨🇳, Revolut CEO backing a neobank for immigrants 🇬🇧 & much more!
Hello Global Fintechers!
Before our main program, I just wanted to tell you about the latest slider I created about Square’s punk co-founder Jack Dorsey. This project started as quick way to promote Global Fintech Insider, but I ended up reading two new books about Dorsey’s companies (The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time and Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal) and countless articles. Anyway, if you want to learn about the early days of Twitter and Square, check out my slider on LinkedIn. It’s really inspiring!
🇲🇨 Monzo Co-Founder Jason Bates Plots to Build the Revolut of Private Banking By Reviving a Disgraced Monaco Bank
Monzo and Starling Bank co-founder Jason Bates (center) is orchestrating the revival of Monaco-based Banque Havilland alongside Ukrainian fintech investor Maksym Koretskiy (left) and Scottish billionaire Jim McColl (right), according to Bloomberg. This potential deal is happening nearly a year after the banking group lost its European license over anti-money-laundering failures.
The trio is seeking regulatory approval from Monaco's Commission de Controle des Activites Financieres and France's ACPR to transform the disgraced institution into a wealth-focused fintech under a new name.
Maksym Koretskiy, one of the three buyers, sees parallels between the state of private banking today and retail banking a decade ago: "Companies like Revolut and Monzo once set this flywheel spinning in the fintech industry, he wrote on Finextra last year. A similar scenario could unfold in the WealthTech industry—all it takes is for someone to take the lead and help the middle class step out of their conservative comfort zones. They will start using Wealth-as-a-Service solutions, effectively gaining access to services traditionally reserved for multi-millionaires."
The timing aligns with major fintechs' aggressive pivot toward affluent clients. Revolut is hiring relationship managers and compliance specialists to launch private banking services for individuals with over $1 million in liquid assets, directly challenging UBS and Morgan Stanley. Robinhood plans to launch Robinhood Banking in the fall 2025 and to offer luxury perks including Met Gala tickets, private jet access, and cash delivery services. Wealthsimple, Canada’s largest fintech, announced features similar to Robinhood’s earlier this month.
Once controlled by Conservative Party donor David Rowland's family and connected to Prince Andrew's circle, Banque Havilland previously leveraged royal connections as an "unofficial door-opener to the world's financial elite." If the deal go through, Scottish independence supporter Jim McColl will be one of its co-owner.
Source : Bloomberg & Global Fintech Insider
🇨🇦 Financial Planning Software Pioneer Mark Evans Closes $80M Goldman-Led Round After Emergency Brain Surgery
Financial planning software pioneer Mark Evans (pictured above), the creator of NaviPlan, just closed an $80 million Series B round for Conquest Planning, while recovering from emergency brain surgery to remove a brain tumour. The round was led by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and included Citi Ventures, BDC Capital, TIAA Ventures, Portage, USAA and Canapi Ventures.
Evans revealed the shocking turn in a Linkedin post: "Fast forward to May 3rd and we had a full slate of co-investors and were finalizing the legal documents when I had a brain hemorrhage while at our house in Florida. That led to brain surgery at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa on May 10th to remove a 5cm brain tumor."
Despite the medical emergency, the Canadian entrepreneur made a remarkable recovery and returned to close the deal. "Through the magic of modern medicine (and the skill of my surgeons) I have made a full recovery and I back to 100%. We arrived back to Winnipeg a week ago just in time to finalize the last pieces of the Series B," he posted.
Now Evans is betting on Conquest Planning's AI-based Strategic Advice Manager (SAM) to help advisors understand different financial scenarios. The company will use the funding to expand into the US market while building on relationships with over 15,000 advisors in Canada and institutional clients including RBC, BNY Pershing, and Manulife.
Sources: Global Fintech Insider & InvestmentNews
🇺🇸 Ex Citi Banker Gets Peter Thiel’s Backing To Help Banks Accept Any Stablecoin
Former Citigroup executive Tony McLaughlin convinced Peter Thiel to fund his plan to build a universal clearing system that lets banks accept any stablecoin with his fintech Ubyx. Think of it like how Visa and Mastercard work for credit cards, where "the smallest bank in the world can issue a Visa card because they don't have to build their own acceptance network," McLaughlin told Bloomberg. Galaxy Ventures led the $10M seed round with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Paxos, VanEck, and Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund, targeting a Q4 2025 launch across Solana, Base, Canton and XRP Ledger blockchains.
Sources: Bloomberg, Ledger Insights
🇨🇳 Alipay Lets Chinese Shoppers Pay With Voice Through Smart Glasses
Chinese payment giant Alipay will let consumers wearing AR glasses pay with their voice after partnering with Chinese smart glasses maker Rokid. Shoppers wearing the glasses can scan a merchant's QR code, state the payment amount, and confirm the transaction vocally in seconds through the Rokid app. Over 250,000 glasses have been pre-ordered in China ahead of the June rollout. Rokid, which gained attention earlier this year for integrating DeepSeek's AI models into its glasses, is led by CEO Zhu Mingming (pictured above), who envisions customers eventually buying items just by looking at them while receiving instant product information and personalized offers. The partnership represents Alipay's push into wearable payments as AR technology advances beyond simple voice commands into comprehensive shopping experiences.
Source: Finextra & businesswire
🇬🇧 US Regulators Fine UK Payment Processor Paddle $5M For Enabling Scams
London-based payment processor Paddle was fined $5 million by US regulators and banned from processing payments for tech-support telemarketing companies after allegedly enabling scams targeting American consumers. The Federal Trade Commission accused Paddle of processing payments for two companies that created fake virus alerts and pop-ups impersonating Microsoft and McAfee, costing victims millions over five years. While banned from tech-support telemarketing, Paddle can continue serving legitimate software companies and digital product sellers. CEO Jimmy Fitzgerald (pictured above) said that, while most of Paddle's 6,000 digital product clients are legitimate, "bad faith actors" do exist among them. The company denied processing fraudulent payments, but agreed to settle rather than fight the charges. Paddle also previously laid off 8% of its workforce in 2023 amid rising costs and slower tech investment.
Sources: Tech.eu & Fintech Futures
🇵🇭 Philippine BNPL Startup Salmon Raises $88M For Southeast Asia Expansion
Philippine buy-now-pay-later startup Salmon raised $88 million from the International Finance Corporation, Abu Dhabi's Lunate, and Northstar. The funding will help Salmon compete with regional giants like Grab's payment service and Sea Group's ShopeePay in Southeast Asia's crowded digital lending market. The company, co-founded by Pavel Fedorov (center), George Chesakov (left), and Raffy Montemayor (right), has raised over $150 million since launching in 2022 and serves 2,000+ customers across 30+ retail partners, with plans to expand into Indonesia. Salmon's key advantage is holding a full banking license in the Philippines, which could prove crucial as Southeast Asian regulators increasingly scrutinize the BNPL sector over debt risks and consumer protection concerns.
Source: Deal Street Asia
🇺🇸 PayPal Partners With Card-On-File Manager Knot To Automatically Update Cards At Online Stores
PayPal partnered with card-on-file manager Knot to automatically update PayPal cards across merchant websites. Knot CEO Rory O'Reilly announced the launch on LinkedIn, saying their services fixes how difficult it was for users to update their cards on file at online retailers. The partnership also helps PayPal increase card usage among customers while reducing checkout abandonment for merchants. Knot connects directly with many big online stores through special software links, letting them easily share and update payment information between banks and retailers.
Source: Global Fintech Insider
🇺🇸 Elon Musk's X Plans To Include Credit Cards And Stock Trading In Its Everything App
X CEO Linda Yaccarino confirmed Elon Musk's vision of turning the platform into an "everything app" by announcing users will soon trade stocks and make investments directly on X. "You'll be able to transact your whole financial life on the platform," Yaccarino told the Financial Times, explaining users could pay friends or "make an investment or a trade." The announcement builds on X Money's upcoming launch later this year through a partnership with Visa Direct. Yaccarino said X Money would launch in the US first before a global rollout. While X has secured money transmitter licenses in 41 US states, the Visa partnership provides a workaround to operate nationwide despite regulatory hurdles, including failing to secure a New York money transmitter license. The financial push comes as X seeks to recover from the advertiser exodus, with Yaccarino claiming 96% of pre-acquisition clients have returned and the platform will reach 2022 advertising levels "super soon," though revenue remains at $2.3 billion compared to $4.1 billion in 2022.
Sources: Financial Times & Global Fintech Insider
🇺🇸 Swedish BNPL Giant Klarna Enters US Mobile Market With $40 Monthly Plan
Swedish buy-now-pay-later giant Klarna will launch a $40 monthly unlimited mobile plan in the US in the coming weeks using Gigs' platform on AT&T's network. Gigs is a telecom-as-a-service platform that allows any company to become a mobile virtual network operator. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told Reuters that offering mobile services is a natural next step for Klarna, aiming to make them available to its 25 million users in the US. Klarna also plans to expand the mobile plan to the UK and Germany later this year. The US market for companies reselling mobile services is expected to grow from $14.83 billion in 2025 to $20.84 billion by 2030.
Source: Reuters
🇺🇸 Gen Z Social App Frich Decodes Earnings From Instagram Profiles
Gen Z budgeting based app Frich launched Frich Scoop, an AI tool that estimates anyone's salary and lifestyle costs by analyzing their Instagram and LinkedIn profiles. Users upload screenshots to receive speculative income breakdowns, spending habits, and financial red flags in a Spotify Wrapped-style format. "We're not claiming to know anyone's real financial situation," said CEO Katrin Kaurov (right), explaining the tool aims to help users recognize the disconnect between flashy online lifestyles and financial reality. Founded in 2021 by former models Kaurov and Aleksandra Medina (left), the New York-based startup positions itself as a social finance community that lets users compare their spending, saving, and investing. Frich monetizes primarily through brand partnerships, sponsored content, affiliate referrals, and potentially data insights, helping companies reach Gen Z with financially relevant, engaging content.
Sources: Global Finance Insider & Finextra
🇬🇧 Revolut Boss Backs Indian Banking App Aspora For Global Expansion
London-based neobank Aspora plans to expand to the United States, Canada, Australia, and Singapore after raising a $53 million Series B. The round was co-led by Sequoia and Greylock, with Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky's QuantumLight Ventures joining the round. Aspora offers bank accounts to overseas Indians, allowing its clients to send money home at Google exchange rates, with fees as low as £3 ($4.03) in the UK and zero fees from the UAE. Founded in 2022 by Stanford dropout Parth Garg, Aspora now serves 250,000 users across five countries and is valued at $500 million.
🇺🇸 NerdWallet Transforms Into Wealth Manager After Buying a $178M RIA Firm
Personal finance website NerdWallet acquired New York-based wealth manager Future You Wealth to launch NerdWallet Wealth Partners, targeting clients with at least $100,000 in investable assets. The acquired firm manages nearly $178 million and charges a maximum 0.9% fee, with rates decreasing as investment amounts increase. Future You founder Ryan Sterling now leads NerdWallet Wealth Partners as CEO, with financial services company Charles Schwab serving as the custodian of client assets.
The acquisition marks NerdWallet's shift from simply referring users to third-party advisors to directly managing client assets, expanding beyond last year's subscription-based NerdWallet Advisors that only provided referrals. The move has sparked mixed industry reactions. In a LinkedIn post, Turnqey Labs CEO Tyrone Ross Jr. noted in a LinkedIn post that NerdWallet now controls financial content, education and advisory, a comment that drew responses from several advisors. Jeremy Finger, founder of Riverbend Wealth, cautioned that such deals often don’t run smoothly, saying Nerdwallet advisory business could end up like PE run firm : “It could make business sense, but as an advisor, I would not want to be there.”
Sources: Global Fintech Insider & InvestmentNews
🇺🇸 GENIUS Act Draws Fire For Weak Oversight From Historian & Financial Crimes Expert
Financial crimes expert Jim Richards slammed the US GENIUS Act as proof “Congress has been co-opted by crypto cash,” criticizing its lax oversight of stablecoins. In a LinkedIn post, he pointed to loopholes that let issuers under $50 billion skip audits and those below $10 billion choose their own “sleepy, feckless” state regulators. He also warned that the bill’s vague stability rule allows firms to avoid maintaining real value, just a “reasonable expectation” of it. UC Berkeley economist Barry Eichengreen echoed the alarm in a New York Times op-ed, comparing the Act to the chaotic “Free Banking Era” of the 1800s, when unchecked banks triggered panics. Passed 68–30 in the Senate on June 17, the Act marks the first federal framework for stablecoins and comes amid a flood of crypto-linked political spending. According to Follow the Crypto, industry PACs raised over $197 million and spent $133 million in 2024.
Sources: Global Fintech Insider, New York Times, Reuters & Follow the Crypto
🇺🇸 Investment App Gets $11M To Expand “Stock Where You Shop” Business
Grifin, a US-based investment app that automatically puts $1 into a company’s stock every time a user shops there, reported a 234% increase in Walmart spending just six months after users began investing in its shares. The “Stock Where You Shop” model is designed for Americans who find traditional investing intimidating and has helped Grifin grow to 500,000 registered users and 100,000 monthly active users. Founded in 2017 by Bo Starr (left), Aaron Froug (right), and Robin Froug, the company recently raised $11 million in Series A funding, bringing its total to $22 million. The round was led by Nava Ventures, with support from Alloy Labs and Draper Associates, to support new AI chatbots and family-focused investment features.
Source: TechCrunch
🇨🇦 AI Generated Fake News Crashes Aurora Cannabis Stock by 20%
AI-generated fake news caused Edmonton-based Aurora Cannabis stock to plunge 20% on June 18. Two fabricated articles published on Investing.com falsely claimed Aurora had acquired New Zealand's MedLeaf Therapeutics for $215 million and formed a European partnership with MediPharm GmbH, a company that appears not to exist. The reports included fake quotes attributed to Aurora CEO Miguel Martin and fictitious SEC filings. Both articles carried disclaimers stating they were "generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor." Aurora CEO called the stories "an amazing piece of fiction.’’ A spokesperson for Investing.com cited a "technical issue" for the erroneous publication, which was taken down following Aurora's intervention.
Sources: The Globe and Mail & Global Fintech Insider
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Who Am I?
Hi, my name is Julien Brault.
From 2017 to 2024, I was the CEO of Hardbacon, a fintech I co-founded, which reached 400,000 unique visitors at its peak.
A Google update ultimately sealed the company’s faith and I started this newsletter to keep myself busy in the aftermath.
Why share this?
Because my goal is to use my experience as an economic journalist, fintech entrepreneur and product manager to present the most essential fintech news from around the world through the eyes of an insider.
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