“Fintech startup N26 just issued an update on its main metrics. The bank now has 3.5 million customers across 24 European markets. The company is about to expand to new countries, such as the U.S. and Brazil but it sounds like the company is not ready just yet. In addition to the Eurozone, N26 is currently available in the U.K., Denmark, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Liechtenstein and Iceland. If you look at past milestones, N26 announced reaching 2 million customers back in November 2018 , 2.5 million customers in February 2019 . So growth is still accelerating when it comes to user registrations.”

“Curve , the London fintech that now describes itself an “over-the-top banking platform,” is unveiling a re-vamped cashback feature in a bid to draw in more customers for the premium versions of its Curve card. The company lets you consolidate all of your bank cards into a single Curve card and app to make it easier to manage your spending and access other benefits. With the new Curve Cash programme, customers get 1% instant cashback on top of any existing rewards cards that they have plugged into the app, potentially earning customers double rewards on purchases.”

“Uber is looking to hire dozens of staff in New York, drawing from the city’s pool of engineers with experience in financial services, according to CNBC , citing unidentified sources. The team could, over time, expand to more than 100 workers and may focus on payments (reducing transaction costs) and providing financial services for drivers and contractors. Even more radically, the company is debating the feasibility of launching bank accounts, according to the report. Uber already operates the Uber Cash app and launched a branded credit card a few years ago.”

“Uber ( UBER ) may be looking to branch out into the financial technology (fintech) industry, which includes a hiring push in New York City and may eventually include banking, CNBC reported on Monday. The ride-sharing giant, fresh off of its IPO , is looking to hire a team focused on the creation of new financial products, according to the report. The team will be based in the Big Apple, where Uber already maintains a large presence, and could ultimately exceed over 100 employees.”

“Wealthfront may be one step closer to becoming a super robo . The Palo Alto, California-based digital firm is teaming up with the banking and financial services company Green Dot to offer clients a Visa debit card and the ability to direct deposit paychecks from employers, Green Dot CEO Steve Streit said in a May earnings call . Streit cited the successful launch of the Wealthfront cash account in February that attracted $1 billion in deposits in just a few months. The robo advisor recently upped the annual percentage yield to 2.51% one of the highest rates in the industry.”

“Fintech startup Bunq provides full-fledged bank accounts. But if you’re happy with your existing bank, the company is launching a new free tier so that you can cut down on banking fees. The Bunq Travel Card is a Mastercard without any foreign exchange fee. The company uses the standard Mastercard exchange rate but doesn’t add any markup fee — N26 also uses Mastercard’s exchange rate. Most traditional banks charge you 2 or 3 percent for foreign transactions. When you get a card, you can then top up your account in the Bunq app. You can also send and request money with other Bunq users. But it isn’t a full bank account.”

“NAB, Israel’s Bank Leumi and Canada’s CIBC have launched an online portal intended to facilitate collaboration with fintechs. The site solicits pitches from fintechs to address a range of challenges facing the trio of banks. A representative of a fintech can select which problems they think they can address, choose which bank they want to pitch to, enter details about their business, and then submit their idea.”

“Plaid isn’t just a pattern used by Scottish clans that goes back 3,000 or so years. It’s also the name of a technology company that has been building data links between US banks and financial upstarts since 2012. Now the San Francisco-based company is rolling out its services in the UK, Europe’s hub for fintech startups. Most consumers don’t realize they’re using Plaid’s technology, which is aimed at software developers. It provides a kind of connective tissue between financial companies, linking firms like PayPal-owned payment service Venmo with consumer bank accounts, and says its software is integrated with more than 15,000 US banks.”

“According to SoFi’s release about funding, its pre-money valuation is $4.3 billion, the same valuation it was assigned at the time of that Silver Lake-led round two years ago. Seemingly, that owes to competitive pressure in the space, including a flood of non-bank lending companies that includes Lending Club and Prosper for consumer loans, OnDeck for small and mid-size business loans, StreetShares for veteran-owned businesses and CommonBond and SoFi for student loans. That’s saying nothing of newer online lenders like Affirm, the Silicon Valley startup that’s led by serial entrepreneur Max Levchin and is aggressively chasing millennial shoppers who need loans, or can be easily persuaded to take one, in any case.”

“App-only fintech startup Monzo is scaling up its machine learning capabilities and plugging employees into the rich stream of data generated by 1.7m global users as it forges ahead of the high-street banks in the digital space. Neal Lathia, data scientist and machine learning lead at the UK-based bank, told The Drum how his team is delivering “incremental gains” in the app, in customer and the product using smarter automation since he took the role on one year ago.”

“Well, that was short-lived: Just 36 hours after Curve, the London fintech that lets you consolidate all of your bank cards into a single Curve card, re-instated support for Amex, the feature has once again been unceremoniously blocked by American Express. This time, however, the context feels very different from 2016 when the startup was barely off the ground, with Curve telling customers in an email this morning that it intends to “fight Amex’s decision with our full might”.”

“360 Finance,  an online consumer loan platform that spun off from China’s anti-virus service giant 360 Group, has joined a raft of Chinese fintech companies to go public in the U.S. over the last two years.”

“The evolution of financial services over the last decade has been dictated by fintech companies with a tight focus on experience. The resulting landscape of thousands of easy-to-use options for payments, savings and planning has fundamentally changed how account holders view the relationships they have with their financial institutions.“