Your Daily FinTech Podcast - May 24th, 2022

Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below: Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast. THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS Block founder Jack Dorsey has told investors the acquisition of Afterpay will help it create a financial services and retailing platform that combines the company’s original payments services with its consumer financial management “super app”, backed by tools to lift access to bitcoin. WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS? Zip Co says the buy now, pay later sector needs to focus on reducing bad debt numbers and improving margin growth to win back investor confidence. Diane Smith-Gander AO told a conference in Melbourne on Monday that buy now, pay later (BNPL) groups had to look beyond customer growth numbers and focus on profitability and reducing bad debts as the economic headwinds such as inflation and the change in e-commerce spending habits changed post-COVID. AS FOR PARTNERSHIPS Affin Bank Group announces that it has formed a collaboration with MYTHEO by GAX MD (A Member of Silverlake Group), a robo-advisor regulated by the Securities Commission Malaysia. BPC Banking Technologies announced a strategic partnership with Powwi - Pagos GDE S.A. one of Colombia’s most successful payment company and a champion of financial inclusion WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS? Tranch raised $4.25m in pre-seed equity and debt funding to bring payment flexibility to a wider pool of B2B customers. Xendit raised $300 million in a Series D funding round led by Coatue Management and Insight Partners. Digitra.com, a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based crypto exchange raised USD 5m in funding. NOW, LET’S COVER NEW LAUNCHES AND FEATURES. GrabFin brand will be progressively rolled out in other Southeast Asian markets in the coming months. slice is launching UPI payments for its users as it seeks to become a payments first product company from being a credit-only product company.