Thibault Pelé

Lydia, the French mobile payments app, has announced the launch of a new challenger bank proposition, investing €100 million in the venture and planning to hire 400 people over the next three years. This strategic move marks a significant expansion for Lydia, now an e-money institution that serves over eight million users with a comprehensive range of financial services. The new banking entity, named Sumeria, will provide current accounts, joint accounts, savings, credit, and investment services, along with a dedicated IBAN and associated Visa debit card. This decision to split the business into two distinct entities aims to cater to diverse user preferences. While Lydia will refocus on being a simple peer-to-peer (P2P) payments app for quick transfers between friends and contacts, Sumeria will offer a full suite of banking services. The rationale behind this strategic shift was to avoid alienating users who preferred a straightforward P2P payments app without bundled banking services. To date, two million of Lydia’s eight million users have engaged with its broader financial offerings. Sumeria has ambitious goals, targeting five million customers over the next three years. To enhance customer experience and provide personalized support, Sumeria will open a flagship bank branch in Paris, inspired by the Apple Store's Genius Bar. This branch will offer hands-on guidance and support for individuals looking to open accounts and explore the full range of services. This innovative approach signifies Lydia’s commitment to meeting the evolving needs of its users while expanding its footprint in the financial services sector. By differentiating its P2P payments and banking services, Lydia and Sumeria are poised to drive significant growth and innovation in the fintech landscape. Stay tuned for more updates as Lydia and Sumeria continue to reshape the future of digital finance!

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SMB neobanks are 'quietly' on 🔥 : - Tide reached 1 million small businesses, notably expanding rapidly in India https://lnkd.in/epfxZbW4 - Revolut announces its SMB banking ARR equivalent revenues have reached $500 millions, representing between 15% and 25% of their total revenue: https://lnkd.in/eQmBNxJG The current rate environment is helping, but all these banks show a range of monetization strategies and are expanding their product offerings. What's next? The frontier between SMB banking and SMB accounting is becoming a heated battlefield. Actors such as Pennylane and Indy are increasingly turning into banking solutions. At the same time, M&A moves such as Qonto acquiring Regate by Qonto show that SMB banking players are expanding toward the accounting stack.

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🚨Was Binance attempting to buy defunct Swiss FlowBank 🏦 Interesting remarks by Carlo Lombardini on the article by Sébastien Ruche in today's Le Temps: https://lnkd.in/e7-aycdZ "Did Binance want to buy FlowBank? The crypto platform was a "key client" of the now-defunct Geneva-based bank, having deposited at least 1 billion francs in it, while the sister of the Binance founder was a shareholder. A pattern reminiscent of attempts to take control of traditional banks by crypto players" It should be recalled that the supervisory authority can exercise control over who becomes a shareholder of a bank above a certain threshold. Thus, "natural or legal persons who hold in a bank, directly or indirectly, at least 10 per cent of the capital or voting rights, or who in any other way can exercise a significant influence on the management of the bank (qualifying holding)" must provide "a guarantee that their influence is not likely to be exercised to the detriment of the prudent and sound management of the bank" (Article 3 para. 2 lit. c bis Law on banks; see in EU law https://lnkd.in/eFWdiRSN). The control takes place at the level of the shareholder, the natural person ultimately concerned, and the concepts used are vague. This ensures extensive control not only over honesty but also over the person's morality or the source of the funds he or she uses. A pending case within the EU: did the late Silvio Berlusconi have the qualities required to be a shareholder in a bank? According to the ECB, "in view of the fact that Mr Berlusconi, the majority shareholder and beneficial owner of Fininvest, was the indirect purchaser of the shareholding in Banca Mediolanum and that he had been definitively sentenced to four years' imprisonment for tax evasion, the condition of good repute imposed on holders of qualifying holdings, within the meaning of Article 23, (1)(a) of Directive 2013/36, as transposed, was not satisfied. It also relied on the fact that Mr Berlusconi had committed other irregularities and that he had been the subject of other convictions, like other members of Fininvest's management bodies." The proceedings are pending: https://lnkd.in/ew8DXwhk

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It's promising to see banks like Societe Generale leading in the Defi adoption! #Defi #decentralization #adoption #transition #blockchain #EURCV #EURC #Staablecoin

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