Santander Bank invested in SaaS platform Komgo to bolster its digital trade finance offering.  

Geneva-based Komgo provides digital trade financing options that reduce friction for cross-border payments arising due to paperwork, according to Doug Court, head of marketing and brand communications at Komgo. The deal size or equity stake was not disclosed by either party.

The Komgo solution allows Santander to achieve a higher level of automation in its operational flow; provide more information to clients, improving user experience; and ease decision-making along with laying the foundations for the next steps in Santander’s digitalization road map, Mencia Bobo, global head of Trade and Working Capital Solutions at Santander Corporate & Investment Bank, told Bank Automation News. 

Komgo has about 25 industry shareholders, including Citibank, BNP Paribas, Nataxis and Credit Suisse, Court told BAN.  

“We need institutional backing in order to come up with solutions that we want in this industry, which is very wide and diverse,” Court said. “You need big institutional push to move the needle on some of these things.” 

The company’s operations span 50 countries and can provide transactions in any currency. The platform processes an average of $1 billion in monthly trading, Court added.  

Santander Bank has deep roots in Europe and Latin America and its investment will open opportunities for Komgo to serve these markets extensively, Court said. 

Google Workplace integrates Stripe 

Google Workplace integrated software-as-a-service provider Stripe, into its platform, allowing users to make payments directly through Google Calendar when they make an appointment or reservation.  

The service will launch in 46 countries where Stripe provides services, including the United States, France, India and Australia, a Stripe spokesperson told BAN.  

“With paid appointment bookings from Stripe integrated into Google Calendar, Google Workspace hopes to help small business owners keep track of payments from customers and manage their time,” a Google spokesperson told BAN. 

The service is powered by Stripe Connect and Stripe Checkout, which support more than 40 payment methods like Google Pay, card payments and digital wallet payments, according to a Stripe release. 

Best Buy joins Citi’s lending platform, Bridge 

Best Buy has joined forces with Citibank’s lending platform, Bridge, to provide its suppliers loans from more than 75 lenders.  

The integration will help small– and medium-sized suppliers manage their business finances more easily, Rohit Mathur, co-founder and head of Bridge built by Citi, told BAN. 

“The platform is focused on providing regional and community banks and community development financial institutions an opportunity to expand their reach beyond their local markets and offer their clients a seamless, high-quality user experience,” Mathur said. “Best Buy and Citi will be sharing the program with Best Buy suppliers who need access to capital between $100,000 and $10 million.” 

The New York-based Citibank does not provide lending on the platform and lenders on the Bridge platform may have additional requirements for suppliers according to their target market and credit criteria, Mathur said. 

Nearly 30% of lenders on Bridge are minority- or woman-owned banks and Citi has partnered with many of these banks through its financial institutions group, Mathur added. 

JPMorgan selects Cleareye.ai 

JPMorgan invested in and selected cloud-enabled, low-code platform Cleareye.ai to digitize the financial institution’s documents, including the ability to extract, validate and classify unstructured data. 

Bringing Cleareye.ai on board will help JPMorgan innovating “a manually intensive industry loaded with paper and lacking standardization, burdened by an increasing cost base,” James Fraser, global head of trade for JPMorgan, said in a release. 

S&P Global, Microsoft, Dow Jones and IBM are some of the companies that use Cleareye.ai’s services, according to the company’s website. The deal size and equity holding of JPMorgan in Cleareye.ai was not disclosed. 

JPMorgan leverages AI on its platform for fraud detection and to fight financial crimes.

Robinhood acquires X1 for $95M 

Securities trading platform Robinhood announced June 22 that it will acquire X1, a no-fee credit card platform, for $95 million. The deal is expected to close in Q3 2023.  

The acquisition will bring Robinhood closer to its goal to serve all critical financial needs of its customers, expanding its product offerings and helping its customers gain access to credit, according to a release.  

“When founding X1, we set out to create a different kind of credit card with an unparalleled experience for customers, similar to Robinhood’s mission to make our financial markets more accessible to all. We share the same ethos and, joining together with Robinhood, we’ll be able to offer an enhanced credit card experience,” Deepak Rao, CEO and co-founder of X1, said in the release. 

Both companies declined to comment on the acquisition. 

Visit Bank Automation News’ Transactions Database which lists the technology selected or acquired by companies in the financial services industry, with a specific focus on technology that enhances automation.