PwC's FinTech Insights

Money talks: Examining the disruptions in the BFSI landscape

The banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector has undergone a seismic shift over the past few years, primarily driven by digital disruption, rapidly changing customer expectations and sustainability imperatives.

India continues to be at the forefront of innovation and financial inclusion with the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Aadhaar stack and Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). The pandemic was the litmus test of the insurance sector’s resilience quotient in India, which remained by and large solvent, indicating that there is enough room for leveraging capital and using efficiency tools for further growth. Click here to read more.

PwC is proud to be the knowledge partner for the Global FinTech Fest (GFF23). GFF23 with the theme “Global collaboration for a responsible financial ecosystem: Inclusive. Resilient. Sustainable” is being organized from September 5 to 7, 2023, in Mumbai, India. GFF is the premier FinTech event of the year with over 850 speakers and 21,000 delegates from across the world. Click here to know more about the GFF23.

As our esteemed reader, we're thrilled to invite you to join us at GFF23. Should you need a pass to participate in this event, please don't hesitate to contact us. We look forward to your presence at GFF23!

From around the web

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

Upgrade, a provider of personal credit lines and other consumer financial products, acquired Uplift, a buy now, pay later (BNPL) vendor, for USD 100 million in cash and stock. Read more
The US Federal Reserve launched a new instant payments system FedNow Service for instant payments. Read more
Amazon’s palm-scanning payment technology known as Amazon One is set to be deployed in all its Whole Foods Market stores across the US. Read more
US FinTech Earnest has partnered with credit bureau Nova Credit to make international private student loans more accessible to the US market. Read more
Car IQ has partnered up with Visa to enable vehicles to transact directly with merchants and banks in the Visa network. Read more
Citi Commercial Bank (CCB) launched CitiDirect Commercial Banking, to bring Citi’s global products and services onto one digital platform, providing clients with a consolidated view across their cash, loans, trade, FX, servicing and onboarding relationships with Citi. Read more
Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) has signed a definitive agreement with a US-based private equity firm to sell a majority stake in its Worldpay merchant business. Read more

Bank of England partnered with a decentralised identity and payments platform Nuggets to improve privacy and security for its CBDC 'BritCoin'. Read more
The Law Commission of England and Wales has released its recommendations for reform and development of regulations relating to digital assets. Read more
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), UK launched a digital sandbox to support early-stage start-ups to experiment with their proof of concepts. It is also expected to attract data providers to list their data on the platform to gain insights into their usage. Read more
The FCA, UK updated new Consumer Duty rules to set higher standards of customer protection for financial services customers. Read more
India and France signed an agreement to introduce UPI payment mechanism in France. Read more

Access Bank has acquired Standard Chartered’s subsidiaries in Lebanon, Angola, Cameroon, Gambia and Sierra Leone for an undisclosed sum.
Qatar FinTech Hub (QFTH), founded by Qatar Development Bank (QDB), announced the final list of FinTech start-ups to join the fifth wave of its incubator and accelerator programmes. Read more
Qardy – an online lending marketplace – announced its partnership agreement with Egypt Post, a nonbanking financial institution to provide financing services to Egypt’s small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) community through Egypt Post’s network of post offices. Read more
African FinTech start-up Moove secured USD 8 million from a major bank for Ghana expansion. Read more
Africa and ASEAN signed a partnership agreement to promote digital economies, identifying FinTech, decentralised assets and fundraising. Read more
Arab Financial Services and ila Bank have partnered to provide prepaid card offerings. Read more
Jordan-based bank, Bank al Etihad, has partnered with Swiss FinTech NetGuardians to deploy its AIpowered payment fraud prevention solution. Read more

India and Sri Lanka have signed an agreement to introduce UPI in Sri Lanka. Read more
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced new requirements for Digital Payment Token (DPT) service providers to safekeep customer assets under a statutory trust. Read more
Singapore and Cambodia set up a Financial Transparency Corridor to support digital infrastructures to facilitate trade and cross-border related financial services between SMEs. Read more
Indonesia launched its first state-backed cryptocurrency bourse to provide regulators with transaction records and better protect crypto investors. Read more
Union Bank of the Philippines adopted an ATM-as-a-service solution to enhance its self-service banking operations. Read more
Singlife and Microsoft announced a partnership to boost generative artificial intelligence (AI) adoption among insurance start-ups in the ASEAN region. Read more
Grow Finance partnered with Pismo to issue new Mastercard credit cards for small businesses in Australia. Read more
New Zealand’s parliament passed a law to set up the country’s first deposit insurance scheme. Read more
Capital A Bhd has entered into a partnership with UnionDigital Bank, the digital bank subsidiary of Union Bank of the Philippines, to enhance the travel experience for Filipino travellers. Read more
Vietnam-based FinTech start-up GIMO, which seeks to provide flexible salary payments to blue-collar workers, has completed a USD 17 million fund-raising round. Read more

Bangladesh and India launched trade transactions in rupees through Nostro accounts. Read more
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) carried out initial trials of the digital currency in the interbank call money market as a pilot project – earlier available only in the government securities market. Read more
Cashfree launched ‘BNPL Plus’ to further streamline online payments for direct-to-customer (D2C) businesses. Read more
PhonePe launches point-of-sale (PoS) devices to provide checkout services to merchants. Read more
The RBI upgraded its information management system with the introduction of the Central Information Management System (CIMS) – a next-generation data warehouse. Read more
Amazon Web Services (AWS) India, Chiratae Ventures and a leading Indian payment solutions provider launched a FinTech accelerator for early-stage start-ups. Read more
Proxgy launched AudioCube – a multilingual sound box – for UPI and CBDC payment notifications. Read more
Groww diversified its offerings with UPI payments on its broking app. Read more
PhonePe introduced the Income Tax Payment feature, allowing users to pay tax directly from the app. Read more
PhonePe added ‘health’ to its insurance portfolio offerings. Read more
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) issued a directive to all general and standalone health insurance companies for the speedy settlement of flood claims. Read more

Incumbent FinTech initiatives

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

Punjab National Bank launched ‘PNB Metaverse’ to offer digital branch visit experience. Read more
Indian Bank rolled out digital services under ‘Project WAVE’ initiatives. Read more
Bank of Maharashtra strengthened its digital channels by launching several new digital products and services. Read more
SBI launched 34 transaction banking hubs nationwide to drive growth. Read more
PNB launched ‘UPI 123PAY’, an interactive voice response (IVR)-based UPI solution. Read more
SBI offered cardless cash withdrawals through ATMs via the YONO app. Read more

Regulatory developments

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

The RBI permitted 20 banks operating in India to open 92 Special Rupee Vostro Accounts (SRVAs) with partner banks from 22 countries. Read more
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued guidelines for an emergency facility for debt funds in unfavourable market conditions. Read more
SEBI has allowed asset management companies to launch funds under six new strategies. Read more
SEBI amended its Credit Rating Agency regulations to facilitate the registration of environmental, social and governance rating providers. Read more
SEBI issued a framework for private equity (PE) funds as sponsors and self-sponsored asset management companies (AMCs). Read more
SEBI amended rules for exchanges, clearing corporations and stock-brokers, to allow more contributions to the Settlement Guarantee Fund and wider participation in the corporate bond market. Read more

Top FinTech deals and partnership news – India

The Indian FinTech ecosystem received a significant amount of funding in the month of July 2023. A few of these are highlighted below.

Start-up	Sector	Amount raised	Lead investors	Source
Veritas Finance	Lending	USD 145.6 million	Multiple PEs and others	Read more
RenewBuy	Insurance	USD 40 million	Dai-ichi Life Holdings	Read more
Efficient Capital Labs	Lending	USD 7 million	645 Ventures, The Fund, Lorimer Ventures, Riverside Ventures, Generalist and others	Read more
Zest Money	Lending	USD 7 million	Quona Capital, Zip and others	Read more
Varashakti Housing Finance	Lending	USD 4.3 million	Incofin	Read more
OneStack	Neo-banking	USD 2 million	GrowX Ventures, Stride Ventures, 9Unicorns and Venture Catalysts	Read more
LeRemitt	Payments	USD 1.3 million	Capital A, Axilor Ventures and others	Read more

The FinTech ecosystem saw a diversified set of partnerships built across different sectors. A few handpicked partnerships that developed in the Indian FinTech space in July 2023 are listed below

Financial firm	Partnered with	Sector	Purpose	Source
IDFC First Bank	Plotch.ai	FinTech SaaS	To offer services to start-ups building solutions and businesses around ONDC	Read more
Axis Bank	Flipkart	Lending	To facilitate loans to e-commerce customers	Read more

Acquirer	Acquiree	Sector	Purpose	Source
Pantomath Financial Services	Fundgini	Investment banking	To mobilise diversified investment banking services and facilitate deal acceleration	Read more
Decentro	Neowise Technologies	Payments and lending	To integrate payments and lending workflows and enter the debt-collection space	Read more