Starling Bank withdraws its application for an Irish banking licence

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below: This podcast episode is sponsored by Belvo. Instantly access and enrich all financial data from multiple accounts through a single platform to better understand and serve your customers. From lending to smart saving, Belvo will help you create what your users need NEWS HIGHLIGHT Starling Bank withdraws its application for an Irish banking licence signalling a shift in its international expansion strategy. Starling Bank told its 2,000 employees on Monday that it had ended a four-year process aimed at launching a retail bank in Ireland. Link here. FINTECH NEWS #crypto Plaid adds read-only support for leading crypto exchanges to its data network. While Plaid previously integrated with large exchanges on an ad hoc basis, the move is an indication that the company sees crypto as important to its growth. Link here. #donedeal Last week, €1,344m was raised across 22 FinTech deals. BNPL Unicorn Klarna raised a €761m Venture round cutting their valuation to $6.7bn from $45.6bn, followed by wefox which raised a €380m Series D with a combination of debt & equity, and finally congratulations to Smart Pension who raised a €46m Growth round. Link here. Pico receives a $200m investment. The New York-based FinTech, a provider of technology services, software, data and analytics for financial markets, has secured the strategic investment from Golden Gate Capital. The new funds will be used to pursue M&A opportunities and improve the firm’s infrastructure and data offerings, as well as expand its market coverage. Link here. WealthTech XP mobilized US$ 7.9B savings collected in the last quarter. The Brazilian company raised R$ 43 billion in 'net new money' in the second quarter, a 44% growth compared to the previous quarter and a sign that the brokerage is going through the stock market implosion better than market sectors expected. Link here. #expansion Zimpler enters Norway as part of their international expansion. Following Sweden, Finland, Germany, Estonia, The Netherlands, Latvia and Lithuania, Norway becomes the eighth market to offer Zimpler’s account-to-account payments solutions. Link here.