Open Banking in the US Is Probably Dead in The Water 🇺🇸
We're also covering Coinbase's UK breakthrough 🇬🇧, Musk's X Money comeback via Visa 🇺🇸, open banking in Jordan 🇯🇴, Trump's $250M fintech venture with Schwab 🇺🇸 & Wise entering Mexico 🇲🇽.
I know it’s not related to fintech, but the only thing I can think of right now is how we might enter an avoidable recession as a result of a trading war Donald Trump started on Saturday with his closest allies. Under the false pretenses* of a national emergency caused by imaginary migrants and drugs crossing from Canada to the US, Trump violated a trade deal he negotiated himself, and slapped a 25% tariff on two of his closest allies and main trading partners, Canada and Mexico. If those 25% tariffs are maintained, Canadian GDP is expected to shrink by 2.6% over the next 12 months and the United-States’ GDP by about 1% and this does not take into account the impact of retaliations that already started to pour in. So it’s a lose-lose proposition that will raise inflation and could even bring about a recession.
And the crazy thing is that, while the impact might be more painful for Mexico and Canada than the US initially, the companies that stand to loose the most over the long term are mainly large industrial American companies like Ford and Boeing, whose supply chains are distributed across Canada, United-States and Mexico.
Unlike Trump, who wrote on Sunday an incoherent post on Truth Social to accuse the Wall Street Journal of being a globalist paper (whatever it means) while confusing basic concepts like subsidies and trade deficits, I do agree with the WSJ that this trade war is the dumbest in history.
Now that it has been said, let's go back to our regular program and cover the crazy world of fintech, which includes a couple of stories involving Trumponomics... I guess we can't escape Professor Orange this week!
* Less than 0.2% of the Fentanyl seized at the US border involves the Canadian border; in the last few years, there were far more undocumented migrants crossing the border from the US to Canada than the other way around; and more than 90% of illegal weapons involved in crimes in both Canada and Mexico come from the US and their inability to secure their side of the border.
🇺🇸 Open Banking in the US Is Probably Dead in The Water
The CFPB's newly minted open banking rules, finally unveiled in October 2024, face a bleak future. Following CFPB director Rohit Chopra's removal by President Trump, his replacement, current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, issued a sweeping directive to halt all CFPB activities, including the implementation of new rules.
This dramatic shift has immediate implications for open banking implementation, as staff were explicitly instructed to "suspend the effective dates of all final rules that have been issued or published but that have not yet become effective." The Consumer Bankers Association, along with multiple banking groups, is pushing for the Section 1033 open banking rule to be completely rescinded.
While bank lawsuits challenging the open banking regulation were already in motion, the situation has become more precarious as Bessent's directive also instructs staff "not to make or approve filings or appearances by the Bureau in any litigation, other than to seek a pause in proceedings." Though other parties could step in to defend the regulation if the CFPB won't, this directive alone could jeopardize the future of open banking in the US. Furthermore, even if lawsuits don’t seal the fate of open banking in the US, it does not seem like it will be implemented anyway, as long as CFPB new director maintain the halt on the implementation of new rules.
Source: Politico, American Banker & Global Fintech Insider
🇬🇧 Coinbase Unlocks UK Market After Winning Coveted FCA Registration
Coinbase has secured Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) registration from the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), enabling the crypto exchange to finally offer services directly to UK customers. Until now, UK users had to go through CB Payments Ltd, Coinbase's e-money subsidiary, which acted as a third-party gateway allowing British consumers to trade on the American crypto-exchange. In a LinkedIn post about the milestone, UK Country Director Keith Grose highlighted on Linkedin the growing crypto adoption in Britain: "8.8 million adults now own crypto – a result of the country's thriving web3 ecosystem, builders and supportive regulation by the UK government." The approval, which took six months to secure, adds to Coinbase's growing list of regulatory authorizations worldwide and could facilitate the launch of new products in the UK, such as staking and stablecoins. While Coinbase charges higher fees than many competitors such Binance, it continues to differentiate itself through a regulation-first approach.
Source: CoinDesk
🇲🇽 Money Transfer Service Wise Set Up Shop in Mexico
Wise launched in Mexico, a market where consumers lost 446 million USD in hidden transfer fees last year. The London-listed fintech, co-founded by Estonian entrepreneurs Kristo Kaarmann and Taavet Hinrikus, will allow Mexican clients to move money to 160 countries in 40 currencies. The expansion follows Wise's successful growth in Brazil, where it recently hit 2 million international multi-currency cards issued and partnered with Nubank to power the digital bank's multicurrency accounts. The move will allow Wise to strengthen its grip on Mexico's 27.9 billion USD remittance market, in a context where U.S.-to-Mexico transfers already represent the company's third-largest currency route.
Source: Forbes
🇨🇭Corporate Travel Platform TravelPerk Acquires Swiss Expense Management Startup Yokoy
Barcelona-based TravelPerk, fresh off raising $200 million at a $2.7 billion valuation (up from $1.4 billion in January 2024), has acquired Swiss expense management startup Yokoy in an all-equity deal. Founded in 2019, Yokoy carved out a niche in AI-powered expense management, growing revenue by 281.88% over three years and raising over $100 million, including an $80 million Series B in 2022. TravelPerk CEO Avi Meir highlighted Yokoy's AI expertise as key to the deal: "The innovation coming out of Yokoy's AI labs in Zurich is seriously impressive." The acquisition builds on an existing partnership that served joint clients like Breitling.
Source: Skift
🇺🇸 Elon Musk’s X Money Finally Set To Launch Using Visa Direct After Years of Delays
Twenty-six years after founding X.com (which later merged with PayPal), Elon Musk is finally returning to fintech with X Money, set to launch later this year through a partnership between his social media company X and Visa Direct. X incursion into payment, announced back in 2022 when Musk had just purchased Twitter, had been delayed by regulatory hurdles, including the inability to secure a New York money transmitter license. As a result, the upcoming launch of X Money marks a significant step toward Musk's vision of turning X into a WeChat-style "everything app" that would combine social media, payments and more. While X has secured money transmitter licenses in 41 US states, the Visa partnership provides a workaround that will allow X Money to operates in all states. "Another milestone for the Everything App: Visa is our first partner for the X Money Account, which will debut later this year," X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced in a X post. The service, similar to Venmo, will allow users to load funds into digital wallets, make peer-to-peer payments, and instantly transfer money to bank accounts.
Source: Bloomberg & Global Fintech Insider
🇫🇷 Qonto Launches Business Formation in France Germany and Spain
Paris-based fintech Qonto has launched business formation services in France, Germany, and Spain, expanding beyond its core banking services for SMBs. Announced by CPO Natalia Williams on LinkedIn, the service combines company registration, bylaw preparation and bank account opening, which start at €9/month. "Instead of juggling accountants, registries, and banks, SMEs can now set up their business entirely through Qonto," wrote Williams. The move represents Qonto's strategy to become a one-stop shop for European businesses, handling both company formation and banking needs under one roof. While company formation through fintech platforms is already common in the U.S., with players like YC-backed Every.io offering free Delaware incorporation and Stripe Atlas charging $500 for the same service, Qonto is among the first to bring this model to multiple European markets.
Source: Global Fintech Insider
🇨🇦 Salesforce Ventures Backs OneVest's $20M Push into US WealthTech Market
OneVest, a Canadian wealth management software provider co-founded by Amar Ahluwalia, Jakob Pizzera, and Nathan Di Lucca, has raised 20 million USD (29 million CAD) in Series B funding led by Salesforce Ventures. The round included strategic corporate VCs Allianz Life Ventures and TIAA Ventures, alongside existing investors OMERS Ventures, Deloitte Ventures, and Luge Capital. Founded in 2021, OneVest offers financial institutions a comprehensive wealth management platform covering client onboarding, portfolio management, and analytics. The 80-person company plans to hire 100 new employees as it expands into the US market.
Source: BetaKit
🇫🇷 Banking-as-a-Service Startup Swan Adds $44M to its Series B
French banking-as-a-service provider Swan has secured an additional €42 million ($44 million) in what it considers the second part of its Series B round. Co-founded by CEO Nicolas Benady (on the picture above), the fintech has built its own core banking system to offer embedded financial products, including payment cards and local IBANs. Swan currently powers financial services for 150 companies, including French accounting unicorn Pennylane, processing €1.5 billion in monthly transactions. Led by Eight Roads Ventures, this round will fuel Swan's European expansion, with Italy next on its roadmap.
Source: TechCrunch
🇯🇴 Jordan Picks Dubai-Based Fintech Galaxy to Pioneer Open Banking
Fintech Galaxy has become Jordan's first approved open banking provider after receiving permission from the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) to test its services in the JoRegBox regulatory sandbox. The company's FINX Connect platform will enable real-time bank account data aggregation and payment initiation services, with an initial focus on account information services. Founded by Mirna Sleiman (on the picture above), who serves as CEO, and with Zaid Khatib heading the Jordanian operations, the company plans to integrate with most Jordanian banks, focusing on Personal Finance Management (PFM) and Business Finance Management (BFM) use cases.
Source: IBS Intelligence
🇺🇸 Truth Social Parent Bets $250M On New Fintech Venture With Schwab
Trump Media and Technology Group, the publicly listed parent company of the social media platform used by Donald Trump for international “diplomacy”, is entering the fintech space with Truth.Fi, an investment platform that will be powered by Charles Schwab Corp. The social media company will place 250 million USD under Schwab's oversight to invest in ETFs, Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies. The platform will be managed by Yorkville Advisors, led by founder Mark Angelo, who already has ties with Trump Media through a 2.5 billion USD stock purchase agreement. The company positions Truth.Fi as part of a movement aiming to provide alternative financial services for conservative consumers. The move comes as Trump Media struggles to grow its social platform Truth Social, which has only 355,000 daily active users while X, another social media platform catering to conservatives, has 500 million monthly active users.
Source: Bloomberg
🇨🇮 Cauridor Raises 3.5M USD To Solve Cross Border Payments In Africa
Ivorian fintech Cauridor, which just raised 3.5 million USD in seed funding led by Oui Capital, started as a simple remittance app in a Montreal dorm room. Frustrated by the slow and expensive process of sending money back to Guinea while studying in Montreal, Canada, founders Oumar Rafiou Barry and Abdoulaye Bah (on the picture above) launched BNB CashApp in 2019. As the app grew, they discovered a bigger opportunity in Francophone Africa's fragmented payment infrastructure and pivoted in 2022 to build payment rails. The strategy paid off and Cauridor (which means hallway in French) now have partnerships in place with Ria, MoneyGram, and Western Union. In 2024, it processed 500 million USD in payment through 25,000 agents across Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia. The company plans to use its seed funding to expand into Mali and Nigeria .
Source: TechCrunch
🇨🇦 Wealthsimple Private Equity Fund Beats Market With 36% First Year Return
Wealthsimple's push to democratize private market investing is paying off, with its Private Equity fund returning 36% in its first year. "I'm incredibly proud of what the team has built: high-quality private investment opportunities to help more Canadians build long term wealth," wrote Chief Investment Officer Ben Reeves in a Linkedin post. The fund is part of Wealthsimple's alternative investment suite, which has attracted 500 million CAD (338 million USD) from retail investors. Unlike traditional private equity funds with high barriers to entry, Wealthsimple's offering requires only 10,000 CAD (6,765 USD) minimum investment, though investors must have at least 50,000 CAD (33,825 USD) in savings and can't allocate more than 20% of their portfolio to private investments.
Source: Global Fintech Insider
Upcoming Fintech Events
🇮🇳 The Bharat Fintech Summit will take place in Bombay on February 5-6, 2025 (94 USD), with speakers such as Balaji Rajagopalan, CTO of the State Bank of India & Anup Agarwal, CEO of Mintifi.
🇳🇱 Banking Renaissance will take place in Amsterdam on February 19-20, 2025 (1,263 USD), with speakers such as Giorgi Shagidze, CEO of maib & Ivar Lammers, Global Head of Financial Crime at ING Bank.
🇬🇧 Finovate Europe will be held in London on February 25-25, 2025 (2,399 USD), with speakers such as Joris Hensen, co-lead of co-lead Deutsche Bank API Program & Joanne Phillips, managing director for Aviva Direct Wealth.
🇺🇸 The Bank Automation Summit will be held in Austin on March 3-4, 2025 (632.50 USD), with speakers such as Michael Lehmbeck, CTO at BankUnited and Koren Picariello, head of generative AI strategy for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
🇺🇸 Fintech Meetup will take place in Las Vegas on March 10-14, 2025 (2,800 USD), with speakers such as Leif Abraham, co-CEO of Public.com & Misha Esipov, CEO of Nova Credit.
🇨🇦 The Canadian Fintech Summit will be held in Toronto on April 8th, 2025 (221 USD), with speakers such as Darcy Tuer, CEO of ZayZoon and David Nault, GP at Luge Capital.
🇺🇸 Stablecon will take place in New York on May 29, 2025 (1,295 USD), with speakers such as Cuy Sheffield, Head of Crypto at Visa and Edward Woodford, CEO & Co-Founder of Zero Hash.
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.
I’m now product manager for Beeye, an AccountingTech SaaS.
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.
If you like what I do, feel free to share this newsletter and follow me on Linkedin.