PwC's FinTech Insights - December 2023

PwC insights of the month

27th Annual Global CEO Survey: India perspective

For businesses in India, 2024 holds promise. Stressing the imperative to embrace change, most CEOs polled said they have started taking concrete steps toward reinvention to remain resilient. India’s air of positivity is being felt across the world, too – the CEO Survey shows that India has risen to the fifth position as an investment destination for global CEOs, up from the ninth position it held in 2023. To know more about this optimism voiced by business leaders in India, read more here.

From around the web

December 2023 witnessed significant developments in the global FinTech ecosystem. A few of these developments are outlined below.

New York-based workplace savings and investment FinTech Vestwell has secured USD 125 million in a Series D funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. Read more
SellersFi – a New York-based FinTech start-up offering financial solutions for e-commerce platforms – secured a fresh credit facility of USD 135 million with Citi and Fasanara Capital, holding the potential to grow up to USD 300 million as the company scales up. Read more
In an effort to encourage the use of digital payments in Mexico, Visa has finalised an agreement to purchase a majority stake in Mexican payment processor Prosa for an undisclosed sum. After receiving all necessary regulatory clearances and meeting customary closing conditions, the deal is anticipated to close in the second half of 2024. Read more
Global payments software firm ACI Worldwide has been selected by Banco de la República, the Central Bank of Colombia, to power its new domestic real-time payments system. Read more
US-based InvesTex Credit Union has partnered up with digital banking solutions provider Bankjoy to enhance its online and mobile-banking experience. Read more
The Credit Union of Texas (CUTX) has partnered up with Alkami, a cloud-based digital banking solutions provider in the US, to utilise its business banking platform. Read more
Pave Bank has secured a digital banking licence in Georgia, USA and completed a successful seed funding round of USD 5.2 million led by 468 Capital, with participation from Quona Capital and other investors. Read more

The European Council and Parliament have provisionally agreed on the world’s inaugural regulations for artificial intelligence (AI). This groundbreaking proposal, termed the artificial intelligence act, seeks to guarantee the safety and respect for fundamental rights in AI systems within the European market. Read more
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) proposed new rules to protect access to physical cash for personal and business customers in the UK, as digital payments continue to grow. According to the rules, certain designated companies must assess whether supplementary services are necessary to address local deficiencies and provide extra cash services in areas where gaps are recognised. Read more
One of Netherlands’ largest banks ABN AMRO acquired BUX – one of Europe’s rapidly growing neo- – for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition was aimed to strengthen the bank’s retail investment footprint and improve its digital offerings. Read more
UK-based embedded finance platform Liberis secured USD 112 million in debt financing to help fuel its expansion plans in North America and Europe. The company plans to expand their reach to Canada, Germany and Poland in 2024 to address the funding gap for small businesses in that region. Read more
Dutch neo-bank bunq launched a self-built generative AI platform named Finn to become an AI-powered bank. The platform replaced the search function on their app enabling users to raise queries regarding their bank account, savings and spending habits, offering personal financial management tips. Read more

Geidea and Giift have partnered to provide Egyptian retailers integrated payment solutions, wherein Geidea will connect its Loyalty Business Management System (LBMS) with Giift’s merchant rewards platform. GiiftBox platform will provide extensive loyalty programmes to a broad network of merchants. Read more
MENA-based venture capital firm VentureSouq led a USD 5.1 million Series A fundraise for Saudi-based FinTech savings platform Hakbah. Operating in Saudi Arabia’s USD 216 billion savings sector, Hakbah is among the MENA region’s fastest-growing businesses. In 2023, it had a 4x increase in revenue and an 18x increase in total savings under management. Read more
Egyptian e-services payment provider Basata Holding is planning to launch new services in 2024 in order to bolster digital transformation. These services will include the latest payment methods – such as selfservice e-payment machines in public places – which enable seamless and secure cash deposits and withdrawals from e-wallets, bill payments, and money transfers via credit and debit cards. Read more
Tamara, a leading FinTech platform in Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, has become the regions first domestic FinTech unicorn by securing USD 340 million in a Series C equity funding round. Read more
Al Salam Bank has launched its latest digital service, allowing existing clients to top up their personal financing effortlessly. Through the mobile banking application, clients can instantly raise their banking requests without having to visit any of the bank’s branches physically. Read more
The multi-award winning FinTech startup Qashio, which offers corporate cards, expense management software and financial tools, is partnering with YallaCompare to introduce ‘Qashio Insurance’ – a branded health insurance product. Read more
Spare, a Saudi-based open banking services provider, announced the closing of a USD 3 million funding round led by Vision Ventures with participation from Wa’ed Ventures, Seedra Ventures, 500 Global, and notable angel investors. Read more

Global payments firm Airwallex has partnered with Woo – an open-source e-commerce platform on WordPress – to offer a new payment option for the latter’s merchants. Read more
Singaporean payment institution FOMO Pay has partnered with a UAE-based digital bank to improve cross-border payment efficiency in the MENA region. Read more
Cambodia is implementing new initiatives to expand payment options for tourists by cementing blockchain-based central bank digital currency (CBDC) partnerships. This effort is part of the country’s broader strategy to update its tourism sector. Read more
China and Singapore have agreed to collaborate on a pilot programme that uses the e-CNY, China’s CBDC, for cross-border transactions. Read more

M2P FinTech, an API infrastructure provider based in Chennai, India, has acquired transaction behaviour intelligence company Goals101 for nearly USD 30 million. Read more
PhonePe has rolled out a ‘credit’ feature on the app to help users manage their credit cards, pay bills, etc. It has announced that it will soon expand its credit offerings by launching consumer loans within the app as well. Read more
Juspay has received an in-principle nod from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as a payment aggregator (PA). Read more
CoinSwitch has launched an umbrella brand called ‘PeepalCo’ to diversify its offerings to include investment products like fixed deposits, bonds, exchange traded funds (ETFs), stocks and mutual funds. Read more
GVFL Limited, one of India’s oldest venture capital firms and global venture accelerator Brinc have come together to launch the A4X accelerator programme. The programme is intended for driving growth in Gujarat and the rest of India by supporting entrepreneurs across four important areas. Read more
Over 60,000 small rural lenders across India have signed up to join a national enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to run their affairs. The lenders are all Primary Agriculture Cooperative Credit Societies (PACS) – community-owned financial institutions that lend to rural and agricultural borrowers. Read more

Incumbent FinTech initiatives

Here are a few incumbent FinTech initiatives launched by Indian financial institutions in December 2023:

Intellect Global Consumer Banking (iGCB), the consumer banking arm of Indian banking tech provider Intellect Design Arena has been selected by OTP Bank, a listed retail and corporate bank based in Budapest, to upgrade its core banking system. Read more
ICICI Bank has integrated its RuPay credit cards with Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transactions for making payments more convenient for its customers. Read more
State Bank of India (SBI) has announced that it will be signing a USD 165 million Line of Credit (LoC) from the World Bank in Delhi to support grid-connected rooftop solar photovoltaic projects in residential and institutional sectors. Read more
RBI has granted approval to ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company Limited and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Limited for acquiring up to 9.95% stake in Federal Bank, RBL Bank and IDFC FIRST Bank. Read more
The Indian Dental Association (IDA) signed an MoU with one of India’s largest banks to offer seamless and hassle-free funding to freshly graduated dentists for setting up their dental practices and boost the oral healthcare infrastructure. The loans extended under this initiative will be guaranteed by Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE). Read more

Regulatory developments

Given below are a few important regulatory developments in the Indian FinTech sector.

RBI has announced its plans to establish a FinTech repository and a new cloud facility for financial services firms as part of its latest developmental and regulatory policy measures. Read more
RBI has extended the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund scheme till December 2025. As part of the revamped scheme, sound box and Aadhaar-enabled biometric devices will also be eligible for subsidy now. Read more
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has tweaked the regulatory framework for Online Bond Platform Providers (OBPPs) to enhance the ease of doing business. This came after SEBI received representations from stock exchanges and market participants, including online bond platforms. Read more
EnKash, Cashfree Payments, OPEN, and other FinTech start-ups were granted PA licences by RBI. Read more
RBI has issued a draft omnibus framework for self-regulatory organisations (SROs) for banks, nonbanking financial companies (NBFCs) and other entities regulated by it. Read more
In addition to setting up a cloud facility, the RBI will operationalise a FinTech repository by the Reserve Bank Innovation Hub by April 2024 that would have information about their activities, products, technology stack, financial information, etc. Read more
The RBI plans to introduce a unified regulatory framework for web-aggregation of loan products across all regulated entities to ensure fair practices, customer protection and data transparency. Read more
The RBI has directed banks, NBFCs and other lenders to not invest in any scheme of alternative investment funds (AIFs) which has downstream investments in a debtor company. Read more
The RBI has issued its list of Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs). Read more

Top FinTech deals and partnership news – India

Investments
Partnerships

The key funding details for the Indian FinTech ecosystem in the month of December 2023 have been highlighted below:

Start-up	Sector	Amount raised	Lead investors	Source
Aye Finance	Lending	USD 37.18 million	A91 Partners, British International Investment, others	Read more
Digivriddhi	WealthTech	USD 6 million	InfoEdge, Omnivore Partners, others	Read more
Finhaat	Lending	USD 3 million	Omnivore Partners, Kettleborough VC	Read more

The FinTech ecosystem saw a diversified set of partnerships built across different sectors. A few handpicked partnerships which developed in the Indian FinTech space in December 2023 have been given below:

Financial firm	Partnered with	Sector	Purpose	Source
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank	ICICI Prudential Life Insurance	Insurance	To provide bancassurance products	Read more