-
The latest in BBVA Compass' ventures with fintech companies will bring it a simpler way to offer investment advice to the millions of households that typically don't qualify for it.
January 12 -
Eastern Bank's 18-month-old innovation unit, run by startup veterans, is preparing to release its first product as the industry continues to allocate resources to internal tech labs while wondering when and how such efforts will pay off.
October 28 -
Digital-only Atom Bank in the U.K. recently won a banking license a feat U.S. fintech entrepreneurs have either failed to accomplish or not bothered trying, instead partnering with established institutions.
July 7
BBVA in Madrid has acquired Holvi, a Finnish online business banking service.
BBVA said Monday that the acquisition is part of its overall strategy to
Holvi was founded in 2011 in Helsinki and is focused on small and midsize businesses and entrepreneurs. The online platform helps companies with traditional banking, online sales, an invoicing facility and a cashflow tracker. Like many of BBVA's other acquisitions, Holvi will operate as a standalone business.
"We're excited about Holvi as we share a vision about the benefit of technology for the customer," Teppo Paavola, chief development officer and general manager of the new digital businesses at BBVA, said in a blog post on the BBVA website. "They use digital to bring a new approach to small business banking, where services essential to a business' future such as invoicing are built into their core offer."
Last year, BBVA bought a 29.5% stake in Atom, a mobile-only bank in the U.K., and acquired Spring Studio, a user-experience firm. In 2014 it acquired the neobank Simple in Portland, Ore., and the cloud computing firm Madiva Soluciones. In February the company announced that it was replacing its $100 million internal venture capital arm with a $250 million external firm called Propel Venture Partners
