The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | May 6th

By Puja Sharma

The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.

Data-centric core banking

Sohar International, the Oman-based bank, has launched a payment gateway designed to empower merchants with unprecedented efficiency.

This solution serves as a seamless conduit for online transactions, facilitating the smooth flow of information between websites, mobile applications, and payment processors. In the rapidly evolving landscape of digital commerce, Sohar International’s payment gateway provides merchants with a host of advantages, including streamlined payment processes, reduced friction in transactions, and heightened operational efficiency.

Sajeel Bashiruddin, Chief Digital Officer at Sohar International, said, “As the wave of digitalisation continues to surge and online transactions become increasingly widespread, Sohar International’s payment gateway is poised to help merchants navigate the intricacies of the digital economy while simultaneously enhancing overall customer satisfaction in online operations. At Sohar International, we remain committed to rolling out innovative features across all digital channels.”

Digital banking solutions provider Tagit has announced a partnership with SaaScada, a next-gen, data-driven core banking engine born in the cloud. With this partnership, Tagit will be able to offer an innovative integrated core and digital banking solution specifically designed for the UK and European markets.

This partnership combines Tagit’s digital banking solutions with SaaScada’s data-centric core banking platform. The goal is to enhance digital banking experiences for traditional and challenger banks, payment companies and other financial institutions.

Through this partnership, Tagit and SaaScada will offer banks and financial institutions superior technology and products.

SaaScada is a data-driven core banking engine built using cloud-native technology to deliver lightning-fast data speeds and flexibility. Its unified product hub makes it easier, cheaper, and faster to build a range of feature-rich products, including current accounts, savings, investments, and lending.

SaaScada’s multi-ledger approach also enables these same features to be utilized for integral digital wallets to hold everything from FIAT and crypto through to cash-back rewards and investments ranging from ETFs to wine – all in one account.

Compulsory Convertible Debtentures

U GRO Capital, a DataTech NBFC focused on MSME lending, has announced that its Board of Directors have approved an equity capital raise of $159 million (INR 1,332.66 crore) through Compulsory Convertible Debentures (CCD) and Warrants. The equity fundraiser is subject to shareholder approval.

U GRO raised this capital through a combination of Compulsory Convertible Debtentures with Warrants, effectively locking in the capital required for both the current year’s growth and next year’s growth.

This capital raise received strong commitment from Samena Capital, one of the Company’s existing private equity investors, which committed INR 500 Crores through Warrants.

In addition to institutional investors like Aregence, some of India’s marquee family offices have committed to CCDs and warrants.

ICICI Bank has announced that it has enabled NRI customers to use their international mobile number to make UPI payments instantly in India, thereby enhancing their convenience of making everyday payments.

With this facility, the bank’s NRI customers can make payments for their utility bills and merchant and eCommerce transactions with their international mobile number registered with their NRE / NRO bank account held by ICICI Bank in India. The Bank has made this service available through its mobile banking app, iMobile Pay. Earlier, NRIs had to register an Indian mobile number with their banks to make UPI payments.

To bring this facility to market, ICICI Bank has leveraged the international infrastructure laid down by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for convenient UPI usage across countries. The Bank offers this facility in 10 countries: the USA, UK, UAE, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

What is the buzz

According to a recent report from The Wall Street Journal, Barclays is currently leading the race to acquire a program catering specifically to purchasers and owners of General Motors vehicles. In the past, the British bank had competed with Goldman Sachs during the initial sale of the program by Capital One, but was surpassed by Goldman’s reported $2.5 billion bid. Last November, reports surfaced indicating Goldman’s intention to sell the business to a new issuer, as part of its ongoing withdrawal from retail banking.

This withdrawal has included the sale of its Personal Financial Management (PFM) business to Creative Planning in August last year, as well as the sale of buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider GreenSky to a consortium led by Sixth Street in October.