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Fintech player <keyword id="15835888" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="zaggle-prepaid-ocean-services-ltd" source="Orion">Zaggle Prepaid Ocean Services Ltd</keyword> has filed preliminary papers with capital markets regulator Sebi to raise funds through an initial public offering. The <keyword id="6354763" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="ipo" source="Orion">IPO</keyword> (initial public offering) comprises a fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 490 crore and an offer for sale (<keyword id="883402" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ofs" source="Orion">OFS</keyword>) component of 1.05 crore stocks by promoters, investors and other shareholders, according to the draft red herring prospectus (DRHP). <br /><br /> Those offering shares in the OFS include promoters -- Raj P Narayanam and Avinash Ramesh Godkhindi and investors -- VenturEast Proactive Fund LLC, GKFF Ventures, VenturEast SEDCO Proactive Fund LLC, and <keyword id="15835889" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="ventureast-trustee-company" source="Orion">Ventureast Trustee Company</keyword>. <br /><br /> Proceeds from the fresh issue would be utilised towards customer acquisition and retention, development of technology and products, payment of debt and general corporate purposes. <br /><br /> Founded in 2011, the company operates in the business-to-business-to-customer segment. It has created a market niche in the country by offering a combined solution for spend management through prepaid cards and employee management (through SaaS). It offers digitized solutions for employee tax benefits, expense management, corporate gifting and rewards and recognition programmes. <br /><br /> The company has 1,896 customers and 19.82 lakh users as of June-end. <br /><br /> ICICI Securities, Equirus Capital, IIFL Securities and JM Financial have been appointed as merchant bankers to manage the IPO. The equity shares of the company will be listed on the <keyword id="35140" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="bse" source="Orion">BSE</keyword> and NSE. <br /><br /><strong>SEE ALSO:<br /><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/dabur-just-dial-hindustan-zinc-among-stocks-to-watch-out-for/articleshow/96359393.cms">Sensex, Nifty50 open lower amid mixed market cues – Dabur, Just Dial, Hindustan Zinc among stocks to watch out for</a></strong><br /><strong><a target="_blank" class="c-link c-message_attachment__title_link" href="https://www.businessinsider.in/stock-market/news/abans-holdings-ipo-here-is-how-to-check-the-allotment-status/articleshow/96360387.cms">Abans Holdings IPO: Here is how to check the allotment status</a></strong>

Fintech player Zaggle files IPO papers with Sebi to mobilise funds via IPO

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Business Insider Intelligence is launching its brand new Banking coverage in early September.</li><li>To obtain a free preview of our Banking Briefing, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=content_marketing&amp;itm_campaign=report_teaser&amp;itm_content=top_text&amp;itm_term=bii_subscription_text_link-banking-as-a-service-platform-providers">please click here</a>.</li></ul><p>Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is a key component to open banking, in which banks open up their systems and allow third parties to access their data to enhance their own services. This growing market is transforming retail banking, reshaping incumbents' relationships with customers, and easing entry for fintechs.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>The UK is leading the open banking movement with regulatory efforts that are reverberating throughout the world. Countries across continents have introduced open banking regulations of their own, indicating that the financial services industry is moving toward an era where sharing data and infrastructure will be table stakes.</p><p>Here are the top companies already implementing BaaS strategies, broken out into two main categories:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Pure BaaS Providers</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Retail Banks w/ BaaS Services</li></ul><h1><strong>Pure BaaS Providers</strong></h1><h2>solarisBank</h2><p>solarisBank bills itself as a "tech company with a banking license." The Berlin-based startup holds a German banking license and provides a BaaS platform that enables businesses to offer fully digital and compliant white labeled financial services to their end-customers.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>Founded in 2016, solarisBank's lets customers seamlessly integrate financial services into their offerings through modern RESTful APIs. The team is focused on building fully automated processes, providing nearly invisible infrastructure to end users, and creating a global digital ecosystem for customers to build their own scalable banking products.</p><p>The company boasts nearly 60 global corporate clients, and closed a €56.6 million ($62.7 million) Series B funding round in early 2018 that included investments from BBVA, Visa, SBI Group, and Lakestar.</p><p>Some of solarisBank's customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Kontist</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Börse Stuttgart</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Smava</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Trade Republic</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Tomorrow</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Al Baraka Bank</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.solarisbank.com/en/">solarisBank</a>.</p><h2>Bankable</h2><p>Bankable is a London-based startup focused on enabling incumbent financial institutions, fintechs, and other corporations to bring new payments solutions to market. Its BaaS solutions include a virtual ledger manager, digital banking, payment card programs, and e-wallets. </p><p>Its end-to-end payment services are accessible via an interoperable proprietary platform that's PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry - Data Security Standards) certified and hosted in Tier-4 data centers for advanced security. Bankable helps its partners meet the technological and regulatory challenges of developing disruptive financial services.</p><p>In April of 2019, Bankable announced a partnership with Visa to accelerate its digital banking solutions.</p><p>Some of Bankable's customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Spendesk</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">GetYourGuide</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Royale Oceanic</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.bnkbl.com/">Bankable</a>.</p><h2>Treezor</h2><p>Treezor is a white label core banking platform that operates as a "one-stop shop payment solution" both receiving and issuing payments. The firm facilitates payment management by enabling its 30 licensed and unlicensed fintech clients to provide their customers personalized credit cards and dedicated International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs).</p><p>Founded in 2015, the Paris-based startup is accredited by the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), and is a member of the Mastercard and SEPA networks. Treezor was acquired by Societe Generale in 2018 to accelerate the parent company's open innovation strategy.Some of Treezor's fintech clients include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Lydia</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Qonto</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Compte CO2</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.treezor.com/en/">Treezor</a>.</p><h2>11:FS Foundry</h2><p>UK-based SaaS/PaaS company 11:FS Foundry is in the process of developing a platform to offer core banking capabilities leveraging tech that eliminates the need to choose between agility and scalability. </p><p>The firm is looking to make core banking upgrades and overhauls - historically seen as high risk, high cost, and, frankly, to be avoided - much more attractive and scalable for clients by  diminishing cost, time to market, and barriers of archaic infrastructure.</p><p>In mid-2019 the firm, which launched a year earlier as a subsidiary of 11:FS, announced that its investment partner and first lending client, DNB, had committed a second round of funding to the project.</p><p>Learn more about <a href="https://11fs.com/digital-financial-services/11fs-foundry">11:FS Foundry</a>.</p><h2>Cambr</h2><p>Formed in 2018 from a partnership between Q2 and StoneCastle, Cambr boasts a full-stack banking service and the nation's largest distributed deposit platform (StoneCastle's network of over 800 community banks).</p><p>Although it does not offer completely turnkey BaaS solutions like some of its competitors, Cambr offers the necessary underlying infrastructure by playing to the strengths of its founding partner companies: extensive industry experience, robust technology assets, and strategic banking relationships.</p><p>The company currently offers basic deposit accounts, compliance, payments, banking, and debit cards. </p><p>Some of Cambr's customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Qapital</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">MoneyLion</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://cambr.com/">Cambr</a>.</p><h2>ClearBank</h2><p>WorldPay founder Nick Ogden unveiled UK-based ClearBank in 2017 after three years of secretly working on the project. The "bank for banks" provides no services to consumers - instead enabling financial service providers, FCA-regulated businesses, and fintechs to build their own solutions and services. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>ClearBank is notably the UK's first new clearing bank in 250 years, and aims to transform the clearing bank experience and create a new level of open competition and transparency in the UK market. Its technology stack transforms the ability for financial institutions to provide current accounts to their customers, resulting in faster, more efficient payments, and financial inclusion.</p><p>The firm provides agency banking services including secure access to core banking solutions, payment schemes and systems, all operated within a liquidity-managed account.</p><p>Some of ClearBank's clients include:</p><ul><li><p style="font-weight: 400;">Tide</p></li><li><p style="font-weight: 400;">Oaknorth</p></li><li><p style="font-weight: 400;">Nationwide</p></li><li><p style="font-weight: 400;">Dozens</p></li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.clear.bank/">ClearBank</a>. </p><h1><strong>BaaS Providers w/ Retail Banking Services</strong></h1><h2>Starling Bank</h2><p>In October 2018, Starling Bank CEO Anne Boden authored a <a href="https://www.starlingbank.com/blog/platformification-of-banking-industry/">company blog post</a> announcing "the death of transaction banking" and, in turn, the firm's entrance into the BaaS and Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) space.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>With its pioneering BaaS offering, Starling has opened its APIs to enable banks, fintechs, retailers, and brands to use its banking license to develop customized financial products such as savings or current accounts and debit cards.</p><p>Some of Starling Bank's BaaS and PaaS clients include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Raisin UK</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Ditto</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">UK Department for Work and Pensions</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Xero</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Telleroo</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Vitesse</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">PelicanPay</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.starlingbank.com/">Starling Bank</a>.</p><h2>Fidor Bank</h2><p>Fidor Bank is a German digital-only challenger bank that helps financial, retail, and telecom businesses bring their digital banking concepts to life. The startup provides turnkey white label banking solutions covering bank license across Europe, technology, compliance, risk management, go-to-market strategy, and customer service.</p><p>Fidor designs, tests, and builds its clients' digital banking projects into its full-service proprietary digital banking platform fidorOS (fOS). Customers can also build a unique customer experience on top of Fidor's APIs if they choose.</p><p>Some of Fidor's clients include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">O2 Telefonica</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">ADIB</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Van Lanschot</li></ul><p>In 2017 Fidor Solutions and Fidor Bank were acquired by Groupe BPCE.</p><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.fidor.com/">Fidor Bank</a>.</p><h2>Green Dot</h2><p>After making a name for itself as the leading provider of prepaid debit cards and, later, mobile banking technology and tax refund disbursement processing, Pasadena-based "branchless" bank Green Dot joined the ranks of BaaS companies in Q1 2019. The fintech's platform provides end-to-end infrastructure for managing a banking or payments program at scale.</p><p>Green Dot saw immediate returns after the initial BaaS launch, posting a 6% increase year-over-year in total operating revenue from Q1 2018. CEO Steve Streit attributed the bank's spike in active accounts primarily to its BaaS programs and partnerships, which added 420,000 new active accounts in Q1 2019.</p><p>Some of Green Dot's BaaS customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Uber</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Walmart</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">PayPal</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Stash</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Apple Pay Cash</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Pangaea</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">EasyCorp</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.greendot.com/">Green Dot</a>.</p><h2>BBVA</h2><p>BaaS isn't just for startups and emerging players. Multinational Spanish banking group - and one of the largest financial institutions in the world - Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA) moved its open platform out of beta in October 2018.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>By connecting to BBVA's core digital banking platform, third parties can access its APIs and specific financial service features including Move Money, Identity Verification, Account Origination, and Card Issuance. </p><p>In addition to offering paid access, the Open Platform team operates a sandbox testing environment, so interested companies can work through their proposals before fully signing up.</p><p>Companies using BBVA's APIs include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Simple</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Azlo</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Xero</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Modo</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">digit.co</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://bbvaopenplatform.com/">BBVA's open platform</a>.</p><h2>Growth of Banking-as-a-Service</h2><p>The open banking movement is proliferating around the world, creating new opportunities for emerging players in the space, and forcing legacy banks to re-examine their business models as a result.</p><p>Many industry executives already view open banking as an inevitable and accelerating trend in financial services. In fact, Accenture projects open banking-related services will account for 7% of total banking revenue by 2020 - less than two years after the UK's open banking regulation rollout.</p><p>For now, these regulations don't require banks to begin offering BaaS, so those that choose to do so will be ahead of the curve - and likely see high demand as a result.</p><p>To keep you ahead of the industry's biggest shifts - like the open banking movement and BaaS - Business Insider Intelligence is launching Banking in September, a new research area with coverage including BaaS and open banking, consumer and business banking, mobile and online banking, digital account opening, and neobanks.</p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=content_marketing&amp;itm_campaign=report_teaser&amp;itm_content=top_text&amp;itm_term=bii_subscription_text_link-banking-as-a-service-platform-providers">Click here to obtain an exclusive FREE preview of Banking!</a></h3><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=banking&amp;itm_campaign=banking_launch"></a></p>

The top companies providing & using banking-as-a-service technology

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Business Insider Intelligence is launching its brand new Banking coverage in early September.</li><li>To obtain a free preview of our Banking Briefing, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=content_marketing&amp;itm_campaign=report_teaser&amp;itm_content=top_text&amp;itm_term=bii_subscription_text_link-banking-as-a-service-platform-providers">please click here</a>.</li></ul><p>Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is a key component to open banking, in which banks open up their systems and allow third parties to access their data to enhance their own services. This growing market is transforming retail banking, reshaping incumbents' relationships with customers, and easing entry for fintechs.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>The UK is leading the open banking movement with regulatory efforts that are reverberating throughout the world. Countries across continents have introduced open banking regulations of their own, indicating that the financial services industry is moving toward an era where sharing data and infrastructure will be table stakes.</p><p>Here are the top companies already implementing BaaS strategies, broken out into two main categories:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Pure BaaS Providers</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Retail Banks w/ BaaS Services</li></ul><h1><strong>Pure BaaS Providers</strong></h1><h2>solarisBank</h2><p>solarisBank bills itself as a "tech company with a banking license." The Berlin-based startup holds a German banking license and provides a BaaS platform that enables businesses to offer fully digital and compliant white labeled financial services to their end-customers.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>Founded in 2016, solarisBank's lets customers seamlessly integrate financial services into their offerings through modern RESTful APIs. The team is focused on building fully automated processes, providing nearly invisible infrastructure to end users, and creating a global digital ecosystem for customers to build their own scalable banking products.</p><p>The company boasts nearly 60 global corporate clients, and closed a €56.6 million ($62.7 million) Series B funding round in early 2018 that included investments from BBVA, Visa, SBI Group, and Lakestar.</p><p>Some of solarisBank's customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Kontist</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Börse Stuttgart</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Smava</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Trade Republic</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Tomorrow</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Al Baraka Bank</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.solarisbank.com/en/">solarisBank</a>.</p><h2>Bankable</h2><p>Bankable is a London-based startup focused on enabling incumbent financial institutions, fintechs, and other corporations to bring new payments solutions to market. Its BaaS solutions include a virtual ledger manager, digital banking, payment card programs, and e-wallets. </p><p>Its end-to-end payment services are accessible via an interoperable proprietary platform that's PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry - Data Security Standards) certified and hosted in Tier-4 data centers for advanced security. Bankable helps its partners meet the technological and regulatory challenges of developing disruptive financial services.</p><p>In April of 2019, Bankable announced a partnership with Visa to accelerate its digital banking solutions.</p><p>Some of Bankable's customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Spendesk</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">GetYourGuide</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Royale Oceanic</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.bnkbl.com/">Bankable</a>.</p><h2>Treezor</h2><p>Treezor is a white label core banking platform that operates as a "one-stop shop payment solution" both receiving and issuing payments. The firm facilitates payment management by enabling its 30 licensed and unlicensed fintech clients to provide their customers personalized credit cards and dedicated International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs).</p><p>Founded in 2015, the Paris-based startup is accredited by the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), and is a member of the Mastercard and SEPA networks. Treezor was acquired by Societe Generale in 2018 to accelerate the parent company's open innovation strategy.Some of Treezor's fintech clients include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Lydia</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Qonto</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Compte CO2</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.treezor.com/en/">Treezor</a>.</p><h2>11:FS Foundry</h2><p>UK-based SaaS/PaaS company 11:FS Foundry is in the process of developing a platform to offer core banking capabilities leveraging tech that eliminates the need to choose between agility and scalability. </p><p>The firm is looking to make core banking upgrades and overhauls - historically seen as high risk, high cost, and, frankly, to be avoided - much more attractive and scalable for clients by  diminishing cost, time to market, and barriers of archaic infrastructure.</p><p>In mid-2019 the firm, which launched a year earlier as a subsidiary of 11:FS, announced that its investment partner and first lending client, DNB, had committed a second round of funding to the project.</p><p>Learn more about <a href="https://11fs.com/digital-financial-services/11fs-foundry">11:FS Foundry</a>.</p><h2>Cambr</h2><p>Formed in 2018 from a partnership between Q2 and StoneCastle, Cambr boasts a full-stack banking service and the nation's largest distributed deposit platform (StoneCastle's network of over 800 community banks).</p><p>Although it does not offer completely turnkey BaaS solutions like some of its competitors, Cambr offers the necessary underlying infrastructure by playing to the strengths of its founding partner companies: extensive industry experience, robust technology assets, and strategic banking relationships.</p><p>The company currently offers basic deposit accounts, compliance, payments, banking, and debit cards. </p><p>Some of Cambr's customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Qapital</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">MoneyLion</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://cambr.com/">Cambr</a>.</p><h2>ClearBank</h2><p>WorldPay founder Nick Ogden unveiled UK-based ClearBank in 2017 after three years of secretly working on the project. The "bank for banks" provides no services to consumers - instead enabling financial service providers, FCA-regulated businesses, and fintechs to build their own solutions and services. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>ClearBank is notably the UK's first new clearing bank in 250 years, and aims to transform the clearing bank experience and create a new level of open competition and transparency in the UK market. Its technology stack transforms the ability for financial institutions to provide current accounts to their customers, resulting in faster, more efficient payments, and financial inclusion.</p><p>The firm provides agency banking services including secure access to core banking solutions, payment schemes and systems, all operated within a liquidity-managed account.</p><p>Some of ClearBank's clients include:</p><ul><li><p style="font-weight: 400;">Tide</p></li><li><p style="font-weight: 400;">Oaknorth</p></li><li><p style="font-weight: 400;">Nationwide</p></li><li><p style="font-weight: 400;">Dozens</p></li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.clear.bank/">ClearBank</a>. </p><h1><strong>BaaS Providers w/ Retail Banking Services</strong></h1><h2>Starling Bank</h2><p>In October 2018, Starling Bank CEO Anne Boden authored a <a href="https://www.starlingbank.com/blog/platformification-of-banking-industry/">company blog post</a> announcing "the death of transaction banking" and, in turn, the firm's entrance into the BaaS and Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) space.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>With its pioneering BaaS offering, Starling has opened its APIs to enable banks, fintechs, retailers, and brands to use its banking license to develop customized financial products such as savings or current accounts and debit cards.</p><p>Some of Starling Bank's BaaS and PaaS clients include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Raisin UK</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Ditto</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">UK Department for Work and Pensions</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Xero</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Telleroo</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Vitesse</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">PelicanPay</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.starlingbank.com/">Starling Bank</a>.</p><h2>Fidor Bank</h2><p>Fidor Bank is a German digital-only challenger bank that helps financial, retail, and telecom businesses bring their digital banking concepts to life. The startup provides turnkey white label banking solutions covering bank license across Europe, technology, compliance, risk management, go-to-market strategy, and customer service.</p><p>Fidor designs, tests, and builds its clients' digital banking projects into its full-service proprietary digital banking platform fidorOS (fOS). Customers can also build a unique customer experience on top of Fidor's APIs if they choose.</p><p>Some of Fidor's clients include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">O2 Telefonica</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">ADIB</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Van Lanschot</li></ul><p>In 2017 Fidor Solutions and Fidor Bank were acquired by Groupe BPCE.</p><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.fidor.com/">Fidor Bank</a>.</p><h2>Green Dot</h2><p>After making a name for itself as the leading provider of prepaid debit cards and, later, mobile banking technology and tax refund disbursement processing, Pasadena-based "branchless" bank Green Dot joined the ranks of BaaS companies in Q1 2019. The fintech's platform provides end-to-end infrastructure for managing a banking or payments program at scale.</p><p>Green Dot saw immediate returns after the initial BaaS launch, posting a 6% increase year-over-year in total operating revenue from Q1 2018. CEO Steve Streit attributed the bank's spike in active accounts primarily to its BaaS programs and partnerships, which added 420,000 new active accounts in Q1 2019.</p><p>Some of Green Dot's BaaS customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Uber</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Walmart</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">PayPal</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Stash</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Apple Pay Cash</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Pangaea</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">EasyCorp</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.greendot.com/">Green Dot</a>.</p><h2>BBVA</h2><p>BaaS isn't just for startups and emerging players. Multinational Spanish banking group - and one of the largest financial institutions in the world - Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA) moved its open platform out of beta in October 2018.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>By connecting to BBVA's core digital banking platform, third parties can access its APIs and specific financial service features including Move Money, Identity Verification, Account Origination, and Card Issuance. </p><p>In addition to offering paid access, the Open Platform team operates a sandbox testing environment, so interested companies can work through their proposals before fully signing up.</p><p>Companies using BBVA's APIs include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Simple</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Azlo</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Xero</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Modo</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">digit.co</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://bbvaopenplatform.com/">BBVA's open platform</a>.</p><h2>Growth of Banking-as-a-Service</h2><p>The open banking movement is proliferating around the world, creating new opportunities for emerging players in the space, and forcing legacy banks to re-examine their business models as a result.</p><p>Many industry executives already view open banking as an inevitable and accelerating trend in financial services. In fact, Accenture projects open banking-related services will account for 7% of total banking revenue by 2020 - less than two years after the UK's open banking regulation rollout.</p><p>For now, these regulations don't require banks to begin offering BaaS, so those that choose to do so will be ahead of the curve - and likely see high demand as a result.</p><p>To keep you ahead of the industry's biggest shifts - like the open banking movement and BaaS - Business Insider Intelligence is launching Banking in September, a new research area with coverage including BaaS and open banking, consumer and business banking, mobile and online banking, digital account opening, and neobanks.</p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=content_marketing&amp;itm_campaign=report_teaser&amp;itm_content=top_text&amp;itm_term=bii_subscription_text_link-banking-as-a-service-platform-providers">Click here to obtain an exclusive FREE preview of Banking!</a></h3><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=banking&amp;itm_campaign=banking"></a>Read the <a href="/banking">latest banking industry news </a> &amp; featured articles:<ul><li><a href="/banking-industry-trends">Banking Industry Trends 2019</a></li><li><a href="/future-of-banking-technology">Future of Banking Technology</a></li><li><a href="/mobile-banking-market-trends">Mobile Banking Market in 2019</a></li><li><a href="/banking-as-a-service-industry">Banking as a Service Explained</a></li><li><a href="/largest-banks-us-list">Largest Banks in the US</a></li></ul></p>

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Business Insider Intelligence is launching its brand new Banking coverage in early September.</li><li>To obtain a free preview of our Banking Briefing, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=content_marketing&amp;itm_campaign=report_teaser&amp;itm_content=top_text&amp;itm_term=bii_subscription_text_link-banking-as-a-service-platform-providers">please click here</a>.</li></ul><p>Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is a key component to open banking, in which banks open up their systems and allow third parties to access their data to enhance their own services. This growing market is transforming retail banking, reshaping incumbents' relationships with customers, and easing entry for fintechs.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>The UK is leading the open banking movement with regulatory efforts that are reverberating throughout the world. Countries across continents have introduced open banking regulations of their own, indicating that the financial services industry is moving toward an era where sharing data and infrastructure will be table stakes.</p><p>Here are the top companies already implementing BaaS strategies, broken out into two main categories:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Pure BaaS Providers</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Retail Banks w/ BaaS Services</li></ul><h1><strong>Pure BaaS Providers</strong></h1><h2>solarisBank</h2><p>solarisBank bills itself as a "tech company with a banking license." The Berlin-based startup holds a German banking license and provides a BaaS platform that enables businesses to offer fully digital and compliant white labeled financial services to their end-customers.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>Founded in 2016, solarisBank's lets customers seamlessly integrate financial services into their offerings through modern RESTful APIs. The team is focused on building fully automated processes, providing nearly invisible infrastructure to end users, and creating a global digital ecosystem for customers to build their own scalable banking products.</p><p>The company boasts nearly 60 global corporate clients, and closed a €56.6 million ($62.7 million) Series B funding round in early 2018 that included investments from BBVA, Visa, SBI Group, and Lakestar.</p><p>Some of solarisBank's customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Kontist</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Börse Stuttgart</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Smava</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Trade Republic</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Tomorrow</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Al Baraka Bank</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.solarisbank.com/en/">solarisBank</a>.</p><h2>Bankable</h2><p>Bankable is a London-based startup focused on enabling incumbent financial institutions, fintechs, and other corporations to bring new payments solutions to market. Its BaaS solutions include a virtual ledger manager, digital banking, payment card programs, and e-wallets. </p><p>Its end-to-end payment services are accessible via an interoperable proprietary platform that's PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry - Data Security Standards) certified and hosted in Tier-4 data centers for advanced security. Bankable helps its partners meet the technological and regulatory challenges of developing disruptive financial services.</p><p>In April of 2019, Bankable announced a partnership with Visa to accelerate its digital banking solutions.</p><p>Some of Bankable's customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Spendesk</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">GetYourGuide</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Royale Oceanic</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.bnkbl.com/">Bankable</a>.</p><h2>Treezor</h2><p>Treezor is a white label core banking platform that operates as a "one-stop shop payment solution" both receiving and issuing payments. The firm facilitates payment management by enabling its 30 licensed and unlicensed fintech clients to provide their customers personalized credit cards and dedicated International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs).</p><p>Founded in 2015, the Paris-based startup is accredited by the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), and is a member of the Mastercard and SEPA networks. Treezor was acquired by Societe Generale in 2018 to accelerate the parent company's open innovation strategy.Some of Treezor's fintech clients include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Lydia</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Qonto</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Compte CO2</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.treezor.com/en/">Treezor</a>.</p><h2>11:FS Foundry</h2><p>UK-based SaaS/PaaS company 11:FS Foundry is in the process of developing a platform to offer core banking capabilities leveraging tech that eliminates the need to choose between agility and scalability. </p><p>The firm is looking to make core banking upgrades and overhauls - historically seen as high risk, high cost, and, frankly, to be avoided - much more attractive and scalable for clients by  diminishing cost, time to market, and barriers of archaic infrastructure.</p><p>In mid-2019 the firm, which launched a year earlier as a subsidiary of 11:FS, announced that its investment partner and first lending client, DNB, had committed a second round of funding to the project.</p><p>Learn more about <a href="https://11fs.com/digital-financial-services/11fs-foundry">11:FS Foundry</a>.</p><h2>Cambr</h2><p>Formed in 2018 from a partnership between Q2 and StoneCastle, Cambr boasts a full-stack banking service and the nation's largest distributed deposit platform (StoneCastle's network of over 800 community banks).</p><p>Although it does not offer completely turnkey BaaS solutions like some of its competitors, Cambr offers the necessary underlying infrastructure by playing to the strengths of its founding partner companies: extensive industry experience, robust technology assets, and strategic banking relationships.</p><p>The company currently offers basic deposit accounts, compliance, payments, banking, and debit cards. </p><p>Some of Cambr's customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Qapital</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">MoneyLion</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://cambr.com/">Cambr</a>.</p><h2>ClearBank</h2><p>WorldPay founder Nick Ogden unveiled UK-based ClearBank in 2017 after three years of secretly working on the project. The "bank for banks" provides no services to consumers - instead enabling financial service providers, FCA-regulated businesses, and fintechs to build their own solutions and services. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>ClearBank is notably the UK's first new clearing bank in 250 years, and aims to transform the clearing bank experience and create a new level of open competition and transparency in the UK market. Its technology stack transforms the ability for financial institutions to provide current accounts to their customers, resulting in faster, more efficient payments, and financial inclusion.</p><p>The firm provides agency banking services including secure access to core banking solutions, payment schemes and systems, all operated within a liquidity-managed account.</p><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.clear.bank/">ClearBank</a>. </p><h1><strong>BaaS Providers w/ Retail Banking Services</strong></h1><h2>Starling Bank</h2><p>In October 2018, Starling Bank CEO Anne Boden authored a <a href="https://www.starlingbank.com/blog/platformification-of-banking-industry/">company blog post</a> announcing "the death of transaction banking" and, in turn, the firm's entrance into the BaaS and Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) space.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>With its pioneering BaaS offering, Starling has opened its APIs to enable banks, fintechs, retailers, and brands to use its banking license to develop customized financial products such as savings or current accounts and debit cards.</p><p>Some of Starling Bank's BaaS and PaaS clients include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Raisin UK</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Ditto</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">UK Department for Work and Pensions</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Xero</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Tide</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Telleroo</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Vitesse</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">PelicanPay</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.starlingbank.com/">Starling Bank</a>.</p><h2>Fidor Bank</h2><p>Fidor Bank is a German digital-only challenger bank that helps financial, retail, and telecom businesses bring their digital banking concepts to life. The startup provides turnkey white label banking solutions covering bank license across Europe, technology, compliance, risk management, go-to-market strategy, and customer service.</p><p>Fidor designs, tests, and builds its clients' digital banking projects into its full-service proprietary digital banking platform fidorOS (fOS). Customers can also build a unique customer experience on top of Fidor's APIs if they choose.</p><p>Some of Fidor's clients include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">O2 Telefonica</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">ADIB</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Van Lanschot</li></ul><p>In 2017 Fidor Solutions and Fidor Bank were acquired by Groupe BPCE.</p><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.fidor.com/">Fidor Bank</a>.</p><h2>Green Dot</h2><p>After making a name for itself as the leading provider of prepaid debit cards and, later, mobile banking technology and tax refund disbursement processing, Pasadena-based "branchless" bank Green Dot joined the ranks of BaaS companies in Q1 2019. The fintech's platform provides end-to-end infrastructure for managing a banking or payments program at scale.</p><p>Green Dot saw immediate returns after the initial BaaS launch, posting a 6% increase year-over-year in total operating revenue from Q1 2018. CEO Steve Streit attributed the bank's spike in active accounts primarily to its BaaS programs and partnerships, which added 420,000 new active accounts in Q1 2019.</p><p>Some of Green Dot's BaaS customers include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Uber</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Walmart</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">PayPal</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Stash</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Apple Pay Cash</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Pangaea</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">EasyCorp</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://www.greendot.com/">Green Dot</a>.</p><h2>BBVA</h2><p>BaaS isn't just for startups and emerging players. Multinational Spanish banking group - and one of the largest financial institutions in the world - Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA) moved its open platform out of beta in October 2018.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div></p><p>By connecting to BBVA's core digital banking platform, third parties can access its APIs and specific financial service features including Move Money, Identity Verification, Account Origination, and Card Issuance. </p><p>In addition to offering paid access, the Open Platform team operates a sandbox testing environment, so interested companies can work through their proposals before fully signing up.</p><p>Companies using BBVA's APIs include:</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;">Simple</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Azlo</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Xero</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">Modo</li><li style="font-weight: 400;">digit.co</li></ul><p>Learn more about <a href="https://bbvaopenplatform.com/">BBVA's open platform</a>.</p><h2>Growth of Banking-as-a-Service</h2><p>The open banking movement is proliferating around the world, creating new opportunities for emerging players in the space, and forcing legacy banks to re-examine their business models as a result.</p><p>Many industry executives already view open banking as an inevitable and accelerating trend in financial services. In fact, Accenture projects open banking-related services will account for 7% of total banking revenue by 2020 - less than two years after the UK's open banking regulation rollout.</p><p>For now, these regulations don't require banks to begin offering BaaS, so those that choose to do so will be ahead of the curve - and likely see high demand as a result.</p><p>To keep you ahead of the industry's biggest shifts - like the open banking movement and BaaS - Business Insider Intelligence is launching Banking in September, a new research area with coverage including BaaS and open banking, consumer and business banking, mobile and online banking, digital account opening, and neobanks.</p><h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=content_marketing&amp;itm_campaign=report_teaser&amp;itm_content=top_text&amp;itm_term=bii_subscription_text_link-banking-as-a-service-platform-providers">Click here to obtain an exclusive FREE preview of Banking!</a></h3><p class="tagline"><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;itm_content=banking&amp;itm_campaign=banking"></a>Read the <a href="/banking">latest banking industry news </a> &amp; featured articles:<ul><li><a href="/banking-industry-trends">Banking Industry Trends 2019</a></li><li><a href="/future-of-banking-technology">Future of Banking Technology</a></li><li><a href="/mobile-banking-market-trends">Mobile Banking Market in 2019</a></li><li><a href="/banking-as-a-service-industry">Banking as a Service Explained</a></li><li><a href="/largest-banks-us-list">Largest Banks in the US</a></li></ul></p>

<ul class="summary-list"><li>I paid about $80 a day for a premier package on a recent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/reasons-princess-cruises-best-to-book-from-frequent-cruiser-2023-9">Princess Cruise</a>.</li><li>The fee got me unlimited room service, onboard WiFi, premium desserts, and more. </li></ul><p>I've been on 18 cruises and I absolutely love them.</p><p>I wake up in a new place every morning and unpack only once. Most of my meals are planned and paid for in advance, and I feel the ocean breeze every time I step out onto <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-balcony-cabins-not-worth-it-on-cruise-opinion">my cabin's balcony</a>.</p><p>The only letdown is when the bill that arrives the night before each cruise ends contains more charges than I'd kept track of in my head.</p><p>I hate the wallet-wrenching surprise of that final invoice, filled with a few more drinks than I remember ordering, the WiFi I couldn't live without, and the specialty dining restaurants I splurged on.</p><p>But all that changed the moment I discovered the <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=3178caa1d21533092c616499db7476709e3ddd353fef06fdf337ed67eb1cd6b8&amp;postID=661da67397126ae3b20760c6&amp;postSlug=princess-cruise-premier-package-worth-it-review-2024-5&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.princess.com%2Fen-us%2Fcruise-deals-promotions%2Fplus-premier-cruise-packages">Premier Cruises' Premier Princess package</a> on <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=e103d76ac745d9589ec7025217e80a66298a502f72162c35e3ff11d41d196744&amp;postID=661da67397126ae3b20760c6&amp;postSlug=princess-cruise-premier-package-worth-it-review-2024-5&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.princess.com%2Fen-us">Princess Cruises</a> during a family vacation on the Regal Princess in December.</p><p>Although my parents, brother, and brother's girlfriend went à la carte with their onboard purchases, my fiancé and I ordered the premier package.</p><p>It gave us a huge leg up throughout the trip. Here's why it may be worth considering if you're planning to sail with Princess Cruises.</p><h2 id="4d2dc53a-fe45-45cd-8f56-a03fb3adeeee"><strong>For just $80 per person per day, we got tons of perks</strong></h2><p>The premier package costs $80 per day per guest, which amounts to $560 per person on a seven-day sailing (or $1,120 per couple).</p><p>At first glance, that sounds like a significant additional line item — but not when you compare the included items to the cruise's à la carte costs.</p><p><strong>Princess Cruises' Premier Princess package includes:</strong></p><ul><li>WiFi: Up to four devices per guest</li><li>Beverages: Premium drinks (up to $20 each), bottled water, specialty coffee and juice bar</li><li>Crew appreciation: Mandatory prepaid tips</li><li>Professional photos: Unlimited digital photos and three prints</li><li>Specialty multi-course meals: Two per sailing</li><li>Meals at casual-dining restaurants: Unlimited</li><li>Premium desserts: Unlimited treats from specialty venues</li><li>OceanNow: Fee waived for food and drink delivery anywhere on board</li><li>Room service delivery: Unlimited</li><li>Fitness classes: Unlimited classes by Xpotential (Pure Barre, Yoga Six, and Stretch Lab)</li><li>Reserved theatre seating</li><li>Princess Prizes: Win prizes like wine tasting, onboard credit, and more by opening your door during certain hours</li></ul><h2 id="1335d95c-d869-487e-992f-8be84795b784"><strong>I didn't indulge a ton on my trip but I still saved money with the premier package</strong></h2><div type="image" title="drinks on cruise bar " height="720" width="960" msid="110215363" hostid="261" sizebytes="73646"></div><p>Right off the bat, passengers must pay $16/day for crew appreciation (read: gratuities). Crew appreciation is included in my package, so that's $112 of the $560 I paid for the package accounted for.</p><p>I'm a light drinker, so I only ordered two alcoholic drinks a day: usually a pre-dinner cocktail ($15 to $20 à la carte) and a glass of wine with dinner ($10).</p><p>I sometimes got a soda with lunch ($2.50) or a specialty coffee ($3 to $4) at breakfast. That totals $27.50 to $34 a day, or $192.50 to $238 a week for a week of drinks if they were à la carte.</p><p>For the record, though, the premier package includes 15 alcoholic beverages daily, so you can drink far more than I did and order over $2,000 worth of drinks in a week.</p><p>I also saved on onboard WiFi, an essential for me because I'm always working and sharing my adventures in real time on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.instagram.com/the_globalglutton/">Instagram</a>.</p><p>Since I use both a phone and a laptop, I'd need to connect at least two devices. That would typically cost $40 a day, but up to four devices are included with the package. So that's a savings of $280.</p><p>If you're keeping tabs, I've now accounted for more than the cost of the premier package with just drinks, gratuities, and WiFi.</p><h2 id="beb73639-b28a-4340-9fec-a6bd6a1e21ba"><strong>With our savings already more than accounted for, everything else was a bonus</strong></h2><p>For instance, I enjoy breaking up the monotony of eating in the main dining room with visits to such <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-was-worth-it-on-my-celebrity-cruise-silhouette-2023-6">specialty restaurants</a> as Sabatini's Italian Trattoria, Crown Grill, or The Catch by Rudi. Cover charges at these eateries range from $35 to $39 per person. I dined at two during my sailing, which would have totaled $74 without the package.</p><p>Because this was our first family vacation in about a decade, getting family photos was also a priority. So most nights before dinner, we visited the various portrait stations around the ship.</p><p>With the premier package, I was given an unlimited number of digital images, so we didn't have to make difficult decisions about which photos to keep and which to discard.</p><p>We ended up with more than a dozen digital photos and six prints. On the other hand, my brother and his girlfriend bought some of their couples-only photos and paid $191.75 for five digital photos.</p><p>Plus, my fiancé and I indulged in a few premium desserts ($10 each à la carte), I took a fitness class to help balance them out ($30 à la carte), and we made use of the OceanNow service that delivers food or drinks to you anywhere on board ($15 one-time fee).</p><h2 id="ad58181f-b1ac-4984-92d2-92f0c7209301"><strong>Overall, my package basically paid for itself, and then some</strong></h2><div type="image" title="Two ice cream sundaes on a marble counter on a cruise ship" height="1054" width="791" msid="110215365" hostid="261" sizebytes="55262"></div><p>Overall, I'd estimate we saved at least $275 per person by choosing this package — and we used the included perks rather conservatively since we just aren't big drinkers.</p><p>But even if you <em>only</em> plan to have two drinks a day like we did, this package basically pays for itself.</p><p>It's worth noting that you can only order the package before you board or through the second day of your sailing. Both passengers in a stateroom must sign up for it.</p><p>If one of you doesn't drink alcohol or doesn't care to be connected to WiFi, it probably won't make financial sense to purchase this package.</p><p>But the best part of having this package was that I never felt nickeled and dimed and was able to just enjoy a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/vacation-to-barbados-after-two-year-hiatus-self-care-2023-6">week with my family in the Caribbean</a>.</p><p>I didn't stress about putting any extras "on my tab" because I knew my final bill would be a fixed cost I'd already made peace with. And by doing so, I certainly came out ahead.</p>

I tried Princess Cruise's premier package. At just $80 a day, it's one of the best deals at sea.

<p><em>Welcome to <strong>The Fintech Briefing</strong>, a morning email providing the latest news, data, and insight into disruptive fintech in the <keyword id="6354868" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="UK">UK</keyword> and Ireland, the Continent, and beyond, produced by <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/" target="_blank">BI Intelligence</a>.</em></p><p><strong>Want to receive The Fintech Briefing to your inbox? Enter your email in the box below.</strong></p><form action="http://e.businessinsider.com/s/The+Fintech+Briefing" method="post"><p><strong><label for="email">Email:</label></strong>  <br /> </p></form><p><strong>HSBC GOES BIG ON BIOMETRICS: </strong>HSBC has announced it will offer voice recognition and fingerprint authentication account access to all UK customers, including those on its First Direct brand, by summer of this year. This is the largest rollout yet of biometric security to retail banking customers in the UK, affecting <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160219005825/en/HSBC-Launches-Biometric-Banking">15 million people</a>.</p><ul><li><strong>HSBC has previously lagged other major UK banks on biometric login options.</strong> Barclays offers some customers the opportunity to use voice recognition services, and a "biometric scanner" to <a href="https://www.home.barclays/news/2014/September/barclays-first-in-uk-to-launch-new-biometric-reader-for-customer.html">corporate clients</a>, while RBS and Natwest launched fingerprint authentication <a href="http://personal.rbs.co.uk/personal/ways-to-bank-with-us/mobile-banking/touch-id.html">last year.</a> However, at present no other bank offers all retail customers biometric authentication options, given that fingerprint technology can only be used by those with a mobile app.</li><li><strong>First Direct started out as a telephone-only bank, therefore the introduction of voice recognition makes sense given their client base</strong>. Consumers will have to enroll their voiceprint, but once registration is complete they will no longer need to use memorable answers and passwords. Voices and fingerprints are <a href="http://www.about.hsbc.co.uk/news-and-media">"almost impossible to mimic"</a>, making them much more secure than traditional methods, according to the bank. And yes, the system can handle colds, coughs and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-35609833">speech impediments</a> according to the UK Head of Customer Contact at HSBC in an interview with the BBC.</li></ul><ul><li><strong><strong>Voice recognition is provided by Nuance Communications. </strong></strong><a href="http://www.nuance.com/index.htm">The company, </a>which has headquarters in the US and Ireland, is fast becoming the go-to firm for financial services companies wanting to use voice recognition technology. Nuance is already providing services to ING in the Netherlands and the Royal Bank of Canada among others.</li></ul><ul><li><strong>UK consumers are ready to try biometrics. </strong>61% of consumers believe biometric identification is either "just as secure, or more secure, than current system passwords" according to an <a href="http://www.experian.co.uk/blogs/latest-thinking/uk-now-ready-biometric-banking/">Experian survey</a> conducted last year. Consumers are also more willing to use biometric security in order to access online bank accounts than social media accounts.<div class="KonaFilter image-container click-to-enlarge"><div class="image"><a title_source="BI Intelligence" title_caption="" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56cd54f5dd0895cf048b4726-960/bii-uk perceptions of biometric authentication_2.23.16.png"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>BI Intelligence</span></p></div><p></p></div></li></ul><p><strong>SAMSUNG PAY COMES TO EUROPE: </strong>On the same day Samsung announced adoption figures for Samsung Pay in the US and South Korea, it also announced <a href="http://www.samsungmobilepress.com/2016/02/20/Samsung-Pay-Continues-Global-Momentum-in-2016">its plan</a> to launch the service in the UK and Spain by the end of this year.</p><ul><li><strong>Transport for London (TfL) included in list of partners.</strong> This is important because the network is seen as a leader in adopting payment methods and has seen great success with both contactless cards and smartphone payments. Once consumers are using a payment method on TfL they know it is secure and efficient, and are therefore likely to use it elsewhere. Over 35,000 transactions are already made via smartphone everyday for TfL's services, according to calculations from <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2016/01/28/tfl-sees-over-3-million-mobile-phone-journeys-since-apple-pay-la/">The Telegraph</a>. That represents a sevenfold increase in transactions in the last 6 months of 2015 following the launch of Apple Pay.</li></ul><ul><li><strong><strong>Samsung's proprietary MST technology won't be game changer in Europe. </strong></strong>MST allows smartphone payments to be made at terminals which have the old-fashioned magnetic stripe readers - relevant in the US due to the slow rollout of EMV and contactless terminals. Europe already has a large number of contactless terminals, and consumers are already "tapping to pay" using their contactless cards, especially in the UK where there were 128 million contactless card transactions in <a href="http://www.theukcardsassociation.org.uk/contactless_contactless_statistics/">November 2015.</a> That means that MST won't give Samsung Pay a significant advantage over Apple Pay or Android Pay in Europe.</li><li><strong>The list of partners includes major payments networks, banks, and retailers: </strong>American Express, China UnionPay, MasterCard, and Visa. Many of the countries' major banks and partners include Abanca, American Express, Banco do Brasil, Banco Sabadell, Bradesco, Brasil Pre-Pagos, Caixa, CaixaBank, China Construction Bank, China Everbright Bank, China Guangfa Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corp, DBS, El Corte Inglés, ImaginBank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Itaú Unibanco, MBNA, Nationwide Building Society, Nu Bank, OCBC Bank, Ping An Bank, Porto Seguro, Santander, Standard Chartered Bank and Transport for London (TfL).</li></ul><p><strong>Enjoying The Fintech Briefing? Enter your email to receive it directly to your inbox.</strong></p><form action="http://e.businessinsider.com/s/The+Fintech+Briefing" method="post"><p><strong><label for="email">Email:</label></strong>  <br /></p></form><p><strong>PAYPAL PARTNERS WITH VODAFONE: </strong> PayPal gave more detail on its recent partnership with Vodafone at Mobile World Congress this week. Consumers who have PayPal will be able to link it to their Vodafone Wallet, while those who don't have it will be prompted to open an account in the wallet - enabling consumers to use PayPal in store. It will also make PayPal part of a four-way inter-industry collaboration also including Vodafone, Visa, and Alphabet (Google).</p><ul><li style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The partnership heralds PayPal's move to NFC. </strong>PayPal previously <a href="http://fortune.com/2012/07/18/nfc-isnt-ready-for-prime-time/">shunned contactless technology</a>, but since its split from Ebay it's increasingly looking to grow its in-store presence. Doing so means competing with Visa, MasterCard, and Apple Pay, and therefore NFC is a requirement.</li><li style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>The service will start in Spain and expand to other markets "later this year". </strong>This makes sense given that Spain is a global leader in contactless payment acceptance. Spain had 1.2 million POS terminals in <a href="http://sdw.ecb.europa.eu/quickview.do?SERIES_KEY=169.PSS.A.ES.S102.I00.I200.NT.X0.20.Z0Z.Z">2014</a> of which <a href="https://www.visaeurope.com/newsroom/news/1-billion-visa-contactless-purchases-made-in-last-year">half</a> were contactless by July 2015.</li><li><strong><strong><strong>PayPal will make Vodafone Wallet more appealing to consumers.</strong> </strong></strong>Telco wallets have struggled to take off in Europe due to a lack of trust in their security, and the poor customer experience involved in manually topping them up from other payment sources. Vodafone claimed to solve the latter problem <a href="http://www.nfcworld.com/2015/03/30/334767/vodafone-combines-tokens-and-sims-for-nfc-payments-in-europe/">last year</a> with an announcement that consumers in major European markets would be able to link Visa and Mastercard cards to their wallet in order to avoid having to manually top up prepaid accounts. PayPal will add a 3rd direct payment method as well as bringing a trusted brand to the wallet to reassure wary consumers.</li></ul><p><strong>VISA CHECKOUT COMES TO EUROPE: </strong>Visa has <a href="http://investor.visa.com/news/news-details/2015/Visa-Inc-to-Acquire-Visa-Europe/default.aspx">announced </a>that Visa Checkout will be coming to the UK this year - and France, Spain, Ireland, and Poland. Original e- and m-commerce checkout proposition V.me was quietly shut down in Europe in September 2015, and this week's press release suggests that Visa is hoping to build on the success the Visa Checkout brand has built internationally. In the US, Visa Checkout has overtaken PayPal Express as the payment method most likely to result in conversion on e-commerce sites <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/visa-is-besting-paypal-online-2015-8?r=US&amp;IR=T">according</a> to data collated for Visa by comScore. The rebrand also ties in with Visa Inc.'s acquisition of Visa Europe announced late last year.</p><p><strong>AROUND THE WORLD</strong></p><ul><li><strong>Chinese banks will <a href="https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/28504/chinese-banks-charged-half-the-fees-levied-by-apple-pay-on-us-banks?utm_medium=NewsFlash&amp;utm_source=2016-2-23">pay half the amount</a></strong><strong> their US counterparts do to leverage Apple Pay</strong>. Discussions over the fees were in part responsible for the delay in introducing Apple Pay to China.</li><li><strong>Mastercard </strong><strong><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/mastercard-to-start-using-selfies-as-id-for-online-payments-a6889471.html">"Selfie Pay"</a> gets the go head</strong><strong> as a means of ID verification for online payments</strong>. Following <a href="http://uk.businessinsider.com/mastercard-trials-selfie-pay-2015-8">successful testing</a> in the US and the Netherlands, the technology is due to be rolled out across Europe and the US soon.</li><li><strong>Australian Fintech firm MoneyMe gets a boost. </strong>The company which until now has offered small loans, has received $30 million to develop niche Fintech products aimed at millennials. According to <a href="https://www.finextra.com/pressarticle/63222/oz-fintech-moneyme-raises-30m">Finextra</a>, it marks a shift in confidence towards Fintech by Australian investors.</li></ul><p class="tagline"><div id="categorypromo" style="border:1px solid silver; min-height:90px; padding:10px;vertical-align:top;"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/fintech-predictions-for-2016?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=fintech_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=fintech_ctgr_leadgen_2016-fintech-predictions"></a><strong> EXCLUSIVE FREE REPORT:</strong><br />5 Top Fintech Predictions by the BI Intelligence Research Team. <strong><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/fintech-predictions-for-2016?IR=T&amp;utm_source=businessinsider&amp;utm_medium=ctgr&amp;utm_term=ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_content=fintech_ctgr_leadgen&amp;utm_campaign=fintech_ctgr_leadgen_2016-fintech-predictions">Get the Report Now »</a></strong></div></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/animated-map-global-fiber-optic-internet-cables-2016-2">Animated map reveals the 550,000 miles of cable hidden under the ocean that power the internet</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1iNHI3dzr1l7P_ZGDpqWJC3kUle6Dsan" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

FINTECH BRIEFING: HSBC goes big on biometrics - Samsung Pay comes to Europe - PayPal partners with Vodafone

<p><em>Welcome to our new Payments Insider newsletter, a morning email with the top news and analysis on the digital payments industry, produced by <a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/welcome?utm_source=House&amp;utm_medium=Edit&amp;utm_term=PINSIGHTSutm_content=link&amp;utm_campaign=BIIMobile" target="_blank">BI Intelligence</a>. </em></p>
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<p><strong>STRIPE WILL USE NEW FUNDING TO BECOME THE BACKBONE OF PAYMENTS. </strong>News broke yesterday that Stripe raised $80 million in Series C funding. Leading the round was PayPal Co-Founder Peter Thiel's Founder's Fund. Sequoia capital, Khosla, and Allen &amp; Co. contributed as well. </p>
<p>The new funding brings the two-year-old online payments company's total funding to over $130 million. </p>
<p>Stripe's goals are twofold. Similar to how Amazon Web Services is becoming the backbone of websites, Stripe wants to be the backbone of payments both online and for mobile devices around the globe. The company hopes to achieve this by focusing on the code behind e-commerce and mobile commerce rather than the financial aspects. In other words, Stripe aims to offer a product that is easy to adopt and use in addition to being developer friendly. </p>
<p>Stripe's second goal, which is really more of a natural effect if they can accomplish their first goal, is to "increase the GDP of the Internet," according to Co-Founder Patrick Collison. The company believes that its slicker payments system will lead to more sales for merchants - not a revolutionary idea, but a lofty tagline for sure.</p>
<p><strong>Stripe's strength is that it makes it really easy for startups to begin accepting payments.</strong> One of its weaknesses is that as these startups grow they may decide to make the switch to a payments provider that offers more in terms of reporting and analytics. The last thing a payments company wants is to lose customers just as those customers begin to grow their volume of payments. We think these are both reasons to believe that Stripe will get scooped up by one of the larger payments companies in the next few years in a move reminiscent of PayPal's $800 million acquisition of Braintree. Stripe's valuation currently stands at $1.75 billion. (<a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/01/22/with-an-eye-to-international-growth-payments-company-stripe-raises-80m-from-peter-thiel-khosla-and-sequoia-at-a-1-25b-valuation/" target="_blank">TechCrunch</a>)</p>
<p><strong>SURPRISE, SURPRISE. GOOGLE IS LOOKING INTO ACCEPTING BITCOIN. </strong>Google is looking into how it should integrate Bitcoin into its payments system, according to Business Insider's Jay Yarow via Forbes. The news broke after a marketing manager from Pakistan, Jarar Malik, posted to Reddit emails confirming the news. As far as we can tell, Malik was just a Bitcoin early adopter who wanted some answers and emailed a number of senior Google executives. He struck pay dirt with a response from Senior Vice President for Social for Google Vic Gundotra. (<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/google-is-exploring-bitcoin-2014-1" target="_blank">Business Insider</a>)</p>
<p><span>Here is why it's not surprising that Google is considering accepting Bitcoin: </span></p>
<ul>
<li>Google is a Silicon Valley tech company and <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/why-silicon-valley-and-google-loves-bitcoin" target="_blank">Silicon Valley techies love their Bitcoin</a>.</li>
<li>Accepting Bitcoin as a method of payment is a low risk, low-cost move. Google could use a third-party, like Coinbase or Bitpay, to accept Bitcoin and change transactions into dollars instantly. This would virtually eliminate the company's exposure to swings in the value of Bitcoin. Moreover, Bitcoin transactions processed by a third-party cost merchants about 1% of a transaction or less, so it lowers costs for Google. And anyway<span>, the volume of Bitcoin transactions would be just a drop in Google's ocean.</span></li>
<li>Google Ventures is already invested in a digital currency startup called <a href="http://opencoin.org/" target="_blank">OpenCoin</a>.</li>
</ul>
<p><strong><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>BII</span></p></div><p></p></div>STARBUCKS GIFT CARDS AND MOBILE PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR 30% OF ITS NORTH AMERICAN PAYMENTS.</strong> Drilling down further, Starbucks saw 5 million mobile app transactions a week in North America in the final quarter of 2013. This is an 11% increase from May 2013 when the company said the app drove 4.5 million transactions a week. The company also activated over 40 million new Starbucks gift cards in the final quarter of 2013, valued at over $610 million dollars. While mobile wallet apps have suffered lackluster adoption in the U.S., Starbucks is an exception. Part of the company's success is explained by its fiercely loyal customers. These customers visit Starbucks regularly so gift cards and mobile wallets make sense to use. (<a href="http://www.paymentssource.com/news/starbucks-10m-mobile-payments-users-making-5m-payments-a-week-3016753-1.html" target="_blank">Payments Source</a>)</p>
<p><strong>DISCOVER CARD TRANSACTION VOLUME FALLS.</strong> Network transaction volume for Discover Financial Services fell from $80.5 billion to $79.8 billion year-over-year in the fourth quarter, according to the company's fourth quarter earnings release. The 1% decrease overall is explained by decreases in transaction volume for the company's PULSE network and Diner's Club segments. (<a href="http://investorrelations.discoverfinancial.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=204177&amp;p=irol-sec" target="_blank">Discover Financial Services</a>)</p>
<p><strong>GAUGING THE EXTENT OF FRAUD AT NEIMAN MARCUS.</strong> In a letter to customers, Neiman Marcus President and CEO Karen Katz wrote that 2,400 unique payment cards owned by Neiman Marcus customers had been used fraudulently since the company suffered a data breach spanning from July 2013 to October 2013. Katz went on to say that the breach could have affected as many as 1.1 million Neiman Marcus customers. (<a href="http://www.neimanmarcus.com/NM/Security-Info/cat49570732/c.cat?icid=topPromo_hmpg_ticker_SecurityInfo_0114#1" target="_blank">Neiman Marcus</a>)</p>
<p><strong>WELCOME, INSIDERS:</strong> The Payments Insights newsletter is now Payments Insider, a reflection of our increasing emphasis on the day's most important topics in payments, as well as news exclusives of interest to industry insiders. We look forward to the newsletter becoming an even more important part of your morning routine. Don't forget to sign up and get it every morning in your inbox. Please email johnh@businessinsider.com with news and tips.</p>
<p><strong>ELECTRONICS RETAILER TIGERDIRECT IS NOW ACCEPTING BITCOIN.</strong> The company claimed that it is the first major retailer to accept Bitcoin. However, we think Overstock.com, which began accepting Bitcoin earlier this month, would contest that claim. TigerDirect is using Bitpay as its payments processor.(<a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140123005942/en/TigerDirect-Major-Internet-Retailer-Accept-Bitcoin-BitPay#.UuGPKZQo5z8" target="_blank">TigerDirect</a>)</p>
<p><strong>FISERV GAMIFIES ITS ELECTRONIC BILL PAYING PLATFORM. </strong>Only about 40% of people who bank online use their banks' websites as a platform to pay bills. Payments provider Fiserv sees the low adoption of online bill paying as a market opportunity.<strong> </strong>The company says it's adding features to its CheckFree RXP electronic bill payment platform based on gaming principles to see if it can get people to adopt paying bills online. The features Fiserv is adding are pretty basic - a progress bar, interactive tutorials, and advanced features that have to be "unlocked"as users become more knowledgeable about the service - so "gamification" might be a stretch, but the takeaway is that Fiserv is actively pursuing this market by improving the consumer experience. (<a href="http://investors.Fiserv.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=820771" target="_blank">Fiserv</a>)<strong><br /></strong></p>
<p><em><strong>Here's what else BI Intelligence subscribers are reading...</strong></em></p>
<p class="headline"><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/credit-cards-and-mobile-phones-shoot-up-in-popularity-as-bill-payment-tools-2014-1">Credit Cards And Mobile Phones Shoot Up In Popularity As Bill Payment Tools</a></p>
<p class="headline"><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/t-mobile-targets-retail-banks-with-new-pre-paid-payment-card-2014-1">T-Mobile Targets Retail Banks With New Pre-Paid Payment Card</a></p>
<p class="headline"><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/qa-with-bitcoin-investment-trust-founder-barry-silbert-2014-1">Q&amp;A With Bitcoin Investment Trust Founder Barry Silbert</a></p>
<p class="headline"><a href="https://intelligence.businessinsider.com/drones-navigating-toward-commercial-applications-2014-1">DRONES: Quickly Navigating Toward Commercial Application, Starting With E-Commerce And Retail</a></p>

Stripe Snags $80 Million - Even More Starbucks Mobile App Payments - Discover Card Volume Drops

<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Australian tourists are relatively rich, Chinese tourists are relatively young, and Japanese tourists really like packaged tours.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">These are just some of the trends we observed in the latest data on visitors to the United States <span>from the </span><a href="http://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/inbound.general_information.inbound_overview.html">Office of Travel and Tourism Industries</a>. <span>Overall, 66.7 million visitors from around the world spent $165.6 billion in the U.S. in 2012. </span></span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">We focused on nine countries with the most visitors.</span></p>
<p><strong><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Australians</span></strong></p>
<p>1.12 million <a href="http://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/2012_Australia_Market_Profile.pdf">Australians</a> visited the U.S. in 2012, spending a total of $5.4 billion. For 71% of visitors, the main purpose of their trip was vacation. </p>
<p>The average age of visitors was 42 for males and 41 for females. Australian visitors were the richest on this list, with a median household income of $104,707 - earning more than twice as much as the median Chinese visitor ($40,000). <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">On average, visitors traveled in groups of 1.7 people and stayed in the U.S. for 20.3 nights. They also traveled more extensively in the U.S. than people from the other countries on this list, visiting an average of 2.1 states.</span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Spencer Platt/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Two Australian women consult a map during their visit to New York City. </p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p><strong>Brazilians</strong></p>
<p>1.79 million <a href="http://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/2012_Brazil_Market_Profile.pdf">Brazilians</a> visited the U.S. in 2012 and spent a total of $9.3 billion. For 69% of visitors, the main purpose of their trip was vacation.</p>
<p>The average Brazilian male visitor was 40 years old, while the average female was 38. <span>The</span> median household income of Brazilian visitors was $66,510. On average, they traveled in groups of 1.8 people, stayed in the U.S. for 15 nights, and visited 1.4 states. <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">Just 22% of Brazilian visitors in 2012 were traveling to the U.S. for the first time, the lowest percentage after Germany (20%) and the United Kingdom (14%).</span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Brendan McDermid/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">These Brazilian tourists are excited to meet a wax replica of President Obama at Madame Tussauds in New York.</p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p><strong>Canadians</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">22.7 million </span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/Current_Canada_Stats-At-A-Glance_2012_EOY.pdf">Canadians</a> visits the U.S. in 2012 and spent</span><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> $25.5 billion, representing the largest visitor group. 64% of visitors came for leisure-related purposes, followed by 15% who visited friends or relatives and 11% who came for business.</span></p>
<p>Canadians traveled in groups of 2.1 people on average, the largest group size among the countries on this list. However, their average stay length was relatively short, at 8.3 nights.</p>
<p>Various data was not available for Canadians, as well as Mexicans, due to the large number of visitors from those places who arrive by road. Data we have listed, however, includes both ground and air arrivals.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Steve Marcus/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Canadian tourists, from left, Meghan Schroeder, Jennifer Garcia, Macartney Greenfield, and Jeff Stewart party at Caesars Palace hotel-casino in Las Vegas.</p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p><strong>Chinese</strong></p>
<p>1.47 million people from <a href="http://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/2012_China_Market_Profile.pdf">China</a> visited the U.S. in 2012, spending $8.8 billion. Unlike visitors from other countries, most Chinese visitors came to the U.S. for a main purpose that wasn't vacation, such as business (19%), education (15%), conventions (14%), and seeing friends and relatives (20%). </p>
<p>Chinese visitors were typically younger than those from other countries, with an average age of 35 for males and 32 for females. <span>Their</span> median household income was the lowest on this list, at $40,000. On average, they traveled in groups of 1.8 people, visited 1.8 states, and stayed in the U.S. for 41.6 nights, much longer than tourists from other countries on this list.</p>
<p>46% of Chinese visitors in 2012 were traveling to the U.S. for the first time, the greatest percentage among countries on this list. Only 70% of Chinese visitors stayed overnight in a hotel or motel at some point during their trip, the lowest percentage among these countries. Conversely, visitors from China's neighbor Japan were the most likely to stay overnight in a hotel or motel at least once, with that being the case for 94% of visitors.</p>
<p>China is also notable because 60% of adults who visited were male. That's the greatest disparity on this list, but only slightly higher than the percentage of adult male visitors from Germany and South Korea (both 59%). </p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>AP Images</span></p><p class="caption">Chinese businessmen visit Goldman Sachs in New York City's financial district. </p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p><strong>French</strong></p>
<p>1.46 million people from <a href="http://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/2012_France_Market_Profile.pdf">France</a> visited the U.S. in 2012, spending $5.3 billion. For 59%, the main purpose of their trip was vacation.</p>
<p>The average age of male visitors was 40; for females it was 38. <span>Their</span> median household income was $65,787, significantly lower than visitors from the neighboring United Kingdom (<span>$94,185)</span>. On average, French visitors traveled in groups of 1.6 people, stayed in the U.S. for 16 nights, and visited 1.6 states.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Lucy Nicholson/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">French tourists feel the hot temperatures at Badwater Salt Flats in California's Death Valley National Park.</p></div><p></p></div><strong style="line-height: 1.5em;">Germans</strong></p>
<p>1.88 million <a href="http://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/2012_Germany_Market_Profile.pdf">Germans</a> visited the U.S in 2012, spending $6.9 billion. A relatively small majority (53%) visited for the main purpose of vacation, whereas 18% visited mainly to see friends and relatives, and 16% visited for business.</p>
<p>The average German male visitor was 42 years old, while the average female was 38. Their median household income was $86,398. On average, they stayed in the U.S. for 18.3 nights, and visited 1.7 states. They traveled in groups of only 1.5 people on average, the smallest group size among these countries. </p>
<p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"></span><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>AP Images</span></p><p class="caption">German tourists and Facebook fans snap a photo outside of Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California.</p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p><strong>Japanese</strong></p>
<p>3.7 million people from <a href="http://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/2012_Japan_Market_Profile.pdf">Japan</a> visited the U.S. in 2012, spending $16.5 billion. 72% of them visited for the main purpose of vacation. </p>
<p>The average age of a Japanese male visitor was 44, while the average age for females was 36. Visitors earned a relatively high median household income of $95,475. On average, they traveled in relatively large groups of two people but visited only 1.1 states, making them the least extensively traveled visitors.</p>
<p>Visitors from Japan stayed in the U.S. for an average of only 7.4 nights, the shortest length of stay among the countries on this list. An unusually high number of them purchased a prepaid package for certain items or services on their trip, which may include guided tours, transportation, accommodation, attractions, and more - 51% of Japanese visitors compared to 9% to 28% for other nationalities on this list.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Adrees Latif/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">A female Japanese tourist stops in the middle of a Times Square snowstorm to take a selfie.</p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p><strong>South Koreans</strong></p>
<p>1.25 million <a href="http://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/2012_South_Korea_Market_Profile.pdf">South Koreans</a> visited the U.S. in 2012, spending $4.2 billion. For just 49%, the main purpose of their trip was vacation. A relatively large proportion visited for other main reasons, such as visiting friends/relatives (15%), business (12%), education (11%), and conventions (10%). </p>
<p>The average male visitor was 37, while the average female was 34 - the youngest visitors on this list with the exception of China. The median household income was relatively low at $53,177. On average, South Korean visitors traveled in groups of 1.7 people, stayed in the U.S. for 19.3 nights, and visited 1.4 states. <span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">43% of South Koreans in 2012 were traveling to the U.S. for the first time, second only to China (46%).</span></p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Larry Downing/Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">South Korean tourists, from left, Heemok Ann, Eunyi Ji, and Mijung Jung visit Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. during the 2013 government shutdown.</p></div><p></p></div></p>
<p><strong>United Kingdom</strong></p>
<p>3.76 million people from the <a href="http://travel.trade.gov/outreachpages/download_data_table/2012_UK_Market_Profile.pdf">United Kingdom</a> visited the U.S. in 2012, spending $12.6 billion. 63% visited for the main purpose of vacation.</p>
<p>The average age of a U.K. visitor was 44 years old, and they earned a relatively high median household income of $94,185. On average, they traveled in a group of 1.7 people, stayed in the U.S. for 14.2 nights, and visited 1.4 states.</p>
<p>Visitors from the United Kingdom were the most likely to have made a previous trip to the U.S. Only 14% of visitors in 2012 were traveling to the U.S. for the first time.</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container"><div class="image"><p class="source"><span>Joe Raedle/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Tourists from London Neil Rowbottom and Karin Giannone enjoy the Florida sunshine during breakfast on Ocean Drive in Miami Beach.</p></div><p></p></div></p>

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