Friday November 6, 2020 –
Here are the new and noteworthy stories we have been following this week.
Italian payments firm Nexi leads race for $10 bln Nets takeover
Nexi is leading negotiations to buy Nordic payments provider Nets for about $10 billion and is expected to create a major new European payments company; Nexi is also in the process of acquiring SIA, a transaction announced earlier in October and expected to close by the summer of 2021.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nets-m-a-nexi-exclusive-idUSKBN27F2RG
NerdWallet acquires Fundera
NerdWallet has acquired Fundera, a leading financial resource for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs); the acquisition will enable NerdWallet to expand its financial guidance and financing options for small business owners and establish a stronger foothold in the SMB sector.
https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/84753/nerdwallet-acquires-fundera
Alibaba shares dive 7% as Ant Group’s record $34.5 billion IPO is suspended
The Ant Group’s upcoming Shanghai and Hong Kong IPO’s have been suspended; this comes after Chinese regulatory authorities met with Jack Ma, executive chairman Eric Jing and CEO Simon Hu followed by the Shanghai stock exchange citing “significant regulatory issues” in suspending the IPO.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/03/ant-group-ipo-in-shanghai-suspended.html
PayPal Third Quarter Results
PayPal reported solid financial and operating results for Q3 with $247 billion in payments volume, net revenue of $5.46 billion, and operating income of $0.98 billion; during the quarter, PayPal added 15.2 million Net New Active Accounts (NNAs) ending with 361 million active accounts.
https://s1.q4cdn.com/633035571/files/doc_financials/2020/q3/Q3-20-PayPal-Earnings-Release.pdf
Zelle Network® Exceeds One Billion Payments in 12 Months, Setting a New Record for the Payments Network
Zelle announced continued strong double-digit growth in Q3 with $84 billion in payments volume and 323 million transactions; $4.5 billion in payments were sent to small businesses, and about $0.5 billion was sent by companies to consumers.
Vivid Money raises $17.6 million for its European challenger bank
German startup digital bank Vivid Money has raised a $17.6 million Series A funding round led by Ribbit Capital; Vivid Money is built on top of Solarisbank for the banking infrastructure with several custom features; eg. sub accounts called pockets, each with its own IBAN.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/04/vivid-money-raises-17-6-million-for-its-european-challenger-bank/
Square, Inc. Announces Third Quarter 2020 Results
Square generated $1.27 billion in Q3 net revenue up 44% YoY, and net income of $29 million and handled $28.2 billion in gross payment volume; Cash App contributed total net revenue of $307 million.
https://s21.q4cdn.com/114365585/files/doc_financials/2019/Q3/2019-Q3-Shareholder-Letter-Square.pdf
Justice Department Files Antitrust Lawsuit Challenging Visa’s Planned Acquisition of Plaid
The Justice Department has filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Visa’s acquisition of Plaid; the lawsuit alleges that “the deal would eliminate the nascent but significant competitive threat that Plaid poses to Visa in the online debit market.”
Digital bank Tenth targets Black America
Tenth, a digital neobank is gearing up for launch with the mission of eradicating the wealth gap for Black America; Tenth has opened up its waitlist and is expected to launch in Q4.
https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/36889/digital-bank-tenth-targets-black-america
India is letting WhatsApp offer payments to millions more users
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has provided approval for WhatsApp to roll out its payment service starting with a user base of up to 20 million accounts; Facebook has been testing WhatsApp payments in India since 2018 with up to 1 million users.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/06/tech/whatsapp-pay-india-intl-hnk/index.html
Credit-card debt rose in September for first time in seven months
According to Fed consumer credit data, total credit outstandings increased at an annual rate of 4.68% to $4.16T (up $16.2 billion from August); revolving credit increased at an annual rate of 4.87% to $0.99T, while nonrevolving credit increased at an annual rate of 4.63% to $3.17T.
