Category Archives: Financial Services

Airwallex raises $200M at a $4B valuation to double down on business banking

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Business, now more than ever before, is going digital, and today a startup that’s building a vertically integrated solution to meet business banking needs is announcing a big round of funding to tap into the opportunity. Airwallex — which provides business banking services both directly to businesses themselves, as well as via a set of […] Continue reading Airwallex raises $200M at a $4B valuation to double down on business banking→

Nuula raises $120M to build out a financial services ‘superapp’ aimed at SMBs

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A Canadian startup called Nuula that is aiming to build a superapp to provide a range of financial services to small and medium businesses has closed $120 million of funding, money that it will use to fuel the launch of its app and first product, a line of credit for its users. The money is […] Continue reading Nuula raises $120M to build out a financial services ‘superapp’ aimed at SMBs→

Hacker, money launderer sentenced to prison for scamming tax preparers and COVID-19 relief programs

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A federal judge sentenced two men to prison for a coordinated scheme to hack into tax preparation firms, steal personal information, file fraudulent unemployment claims and income tax returns and then launder the money. The fraudulent unemployment claims aimed to exploit a COVID-19 relief program that netted $280,000 in improper benefits from the state of Washington, the Justice Department announced Thursday. They also included attempts to seek $2.6 million in tax refunds. Bamidele Muraina, a Nigerian national whom DOJ said led the effort to steal identities, received five years and 10 months in prison, as well as three years of supervised release and an order to pay more than $500,000 in restitution. For leading the money laundering leg of the operation, Gabriel Kalembo received four years and two months in prison, along with two years of supervised release and an order to pay nearly $300,000. Starting at least in January […]

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Hacker, money launderer sentenced to prison for scamming tax preparers and COVID-19 relief programs

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A federal judge sentenced two men to prison for a coordinated scheme to hack into tax preparation firms, steal personal information, file fraudulent unemployment claims and income tax returns and then launder the money. The fraudulent unemployment claims aimed to exploit a COVID-19 relief program that netted $280,000 in improper benefits from the state of Washington, the Justice Department announced Thursday. They also included attempts to seek $2.6 million in tax refunds. Bamidele Muraina, a Nigerian national whom DOJ said led the effort to steal identities, received five years and 10 months in prison, as well as three years of supervised release and an order to pay more than $500,000 in restitution. For leading the money laundering leg of the operation, Gabriel Kalembo received four years and two months in prison, along with two years of supervised release and an order to pay nearly $300,000. Starting at least in January […]

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PayEm comes out of stealth with $27M and its answer to the expense report

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The platform gives company finance teams a real-time look at what items employees are asking for funds to buy, and what is actually being spent. Continue reading PayEm comes out of stealth with $27M and its answer to the expense report→

SEC fines brokerage firms over email hacks, customer data exposure

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has fined several brokerages a total of $750,000 for exposing the sensitive personal information of thousands of customers and clients after hackers took over employee email accounts. All of the companies settled the SEC charges, in three separate actions: Cetera Advisor Networks, Cetera Investment Services, Cetera Financial Specialists, Cetera Advisors, and Cetera Investment Advisers; Cambridge Investment Research and Cambridge Investment Research Advisors; and KMS Financial Services. The firms ran afoul of the SEC’s “Safeguards Rule,” which requires companies to write and adopt procedures for protecting customer records and information. “Investment advisers and broker dealers must fulfill their obligations concerning the protection of customer information,” said Kristina Littman, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Cyber Unit. “It is not enough to write a policy requiring enhanced security measures if those requirements are not implemented or are only partially implemented, especially in the face of known attacks.” […]

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Apple, JPMorgan Chase bosses among industry heads set to gather at White House for cyber ‘call to action’

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President Joe Biden will huddle Wednesday with industry leaders to issue a “call to action” on cybersecurity and make “concrete announcements” to counter the fundamental causes of cyberattacks, according to a senior administration official. It’s a star-studded afternoon gathering scheduled to include the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon from the financial, technology, energy, insurance and education sectors, then feature discussions led by top administration officials. The White House has been working to secure commitments from industry in advance of the meeting, mostly in the areas of “technology and talent,” the official said in a background call with reporters on Tuesday. Two points of emphasis, the official said, are building technology that is secure from the outset, and better defending critical infrastructure after the ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline led to a fuel scare. “We need to bake in security by design into tech,” […]

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Ramp and Brex draw diverging market plans with M&A strategies

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From a high level, all of the recent deal-making in corporate cards and spend management shows that it’s not enough to just help companies track what employees are expensing these days. Continue reading Ramp and Brex draw diverging market plans with M&A strategies→

Fintech company Plaid, consumers reach $58M settlement agreement in privacy suit

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Financial tech company Plaid has reached a $58 million settlement agreement in a lawsuit where customers alleged that the company obtained and used their banking information without permission. Plaid’s service connects customer banking accounts to financial apps like Venmo and Robinhood. The plaintiffs claimed that Plaid misled them and violated their privacy by obtaining data from their financial accounts without consent, getting their bank login information through a deceptive interface meant to look like customers’ own bank login screens and selling their transaction histories. Under the settlement agreement, still subject to court approval, Plaid must also delete some data from its systems, minimize the data it stores, improve disclosures of how it uses data and maintain disclosures and websites about its security practices. “We do not, nor have we ever, sold data,” a Plaid spokesperson said. “We make our role and practices clear, and provide services that give consumers control […]

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Financial Services is Ahead of Most Other Critical Infrastructure Sectors, but For How Long?

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The financial services sector has been commended for being a step ahead of all other critical infrastructure sectors in their cybersecurity approach. Realizing the value of the data it is entrusted with like banking records and personal identifia… Continue reading Financial Services is Ahead of Most Other Critical Infrastructure Sectors, but For How Long?→