Banking

The new API will help their clients streamline everything from payments to the creation of beneficiaries and much more LONDON (Bywire News) – A US digital bank FV Bank has introduced its first API to bring advanced bank automation and integration for its clients.  The new API will offer multiple benefits to corporations and institutional clients who want to integrate compliant banking solutions into their products. It will give firms the ability to reduce operational costs and quickly scale operations by automating data flows and payment systems.  This API will streamline everything from the creation of beneficiaries and other payments including domestic and international wires and internal transfers using FVNet. For example, when creating beneficiaries and payments, compliance functions can run in the background, including sanctions screening to ensure AML compliance. The API will also provide real-time webhook notifications for incoming and outgoing payment and transaction reconciliation to create a better experience for firms and their customers.  “We founded FV Bank, to foster growth between banks and fintech creators,” said Miles Paschini, co-founder and CEO of FV Bank. “Our new API will allow customers to seamlessly integrate payments and banking into their platforms and improve customer experiences. With our API, FV Bank clients can create compliant banking experiences directly with a bank partner instead of using an intermediary Bank as a Service (BaaS) provider. Our goal is to vertically integrate and provide the regulatory and compliance functions of a bank and also deliver the tech solutions directly to our customers.” Using the bank’s API, their clients will also have the ability to integrate banking solutions into their own fintech and blockchain applications all while enabling USD bank account functionality to customers. The API facilitates instant fund transfers to their customers’ accounts allowing real-time payouts and, when permissioned, to request funds from a client’s FV Bank account and access balance and transaction history data.  FV Bank says they are continuing to develop their API and future releases will include integration with the banks’ asset trust and custody services which will open up the ability for fintech and blockchain creators to produce more innovative and exciting products while maintaining compliance with a regulated bank partner.  In other news, FV Bank has announced a strategic investment in DIRO. This will see them integrate DIRO’s patented decentralised document and entity verification engine tech into its account opening protocols. This will enhance their Know Your Customer and Know your Business processes. The integration will automate verification enhancing protections against fraud and money laundering. Note: This article was originally published here – https://bywire.news/articles/fv-bank-launches-api-for-seamless-bank-automation (Writing by Tom Cropper, editing by Klaudia Fior)

FV Bank has announced that it has been approved as a Principal Member of Visa. With this approval, the bank is set to launch a programme to issue Visa cards linked to cryptocurrencies.  FV Bank, Puerto Rico’s bank that supports cryptocurrencies FV Bank is based in Puerto Rico, and is approved by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF). Owned by Fintech Holdings, it aims to redefine digital banking globally by seamlessly integrating traditional banking services with digital assets, and supporting the growth of fintech and blockchain companies.  The bank already offers integrated banking services with digital asset custody, but the ability to issue Visa cards is a further evolution of its product suite for those using both fiat currencies and cryptocurrencies.  FV Bank has institutional investors among its clients, to whom it offers a hybrid solution to allow them to hold fiat and crypto, and trade them seamlessly FV Bank becomes Principal Member of Visa FV Bank’s Visa card for crypto services The new Visa debit card is expected to be available by the end of the year, and will also offer corporate account holders the ability to have multiple cards for multiple authorized employees, all on one account. The bank recently successfully closed an $8 million Series A funding round. This capital has given new impetus to the very division that handles the safekeeping of digital assets. FV Bank co-founder and CEO Miles Paschini said:  “Historically, the cards offered in the market that were somewhat compatible with digital assets have been offered only by a fragmented patchwork of program managers and non-bank fintechs. We are proud to be the first bank to provide a truly vertically-integrated solution that combines digital asset custody, traditional banking, and card issuance services to our international customers”. The other co-founder, Nitin Agarwal, added:  “FV bank plans to introduce credit card versions in early 2022 which will enable users to leverage digital assets as collateral for credit lines which will be accessible via the FV Bank Visa card. There is a huge demand for customers who do not want to sell their crypto but want access to spendable funds”. Visa Puerto Rico Country Manager Luis Guerra commented:  “Thanks to its global presence, partnership approach and trusted brand, Visa can help make digital currencies useful and applicable for payments. Visa’s work in the digital currency field is seen as an extension of its broader network-of-networks strategy, which is focused on enhancing various forms of money movement, whether on the Visa network or beyond. We are pleased to welcome FV Bank as Principal Member license and are thrilled about the fact that they will habilitate Cryptocurrency linked to Visa Card Programs”. Note: This article was originally published here: https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2021/10/29/fv-bank-becomes-principal-member-of-visa/

FV Bank says it has received permission from a Puerto Rico banking regulator to provide custody services for bitcoin, ether and more in the U.S. A Puerto Rico-based digital challenger bank is launching a custody service for digital assets, offering clients the chance to securely store and exchange major cryptocurrencies from early 2021. FV Bank (which stands for fintech ventures) announced Monday it has received permission from the Puerto Rico Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF) to provide custody services for bitcoin, ether, EOS, XRP, and “many” ERC-20 standard tokens. It will also allow “seamless exchange to fiat [currency],” according to a statement. “We are targeting going live in Q1 2021,” an FV Bank representative told CoinDesk via email. Almost as if the stars were aligned, banks like DBS, BBVA and Standard Chartered have recently been making announcements about providing digital-asset services, perfectly timed with the price of bitcoin reaching all-time highs.  An announcement earlier this year by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) opened the door for U.S. banks to take custody of digital assets. This presented an opportunity for firms like FV Bank, a nimble innovator originally set up to provide U.S. banking services to fintech companies. “When the OCC came out with their opinion back in July, we saw that as an opening and went to our regulator and sought clarification and permission as a bank to provide custodial services to our customers,” FV Bank CEO Miles Paschini said in an interview. “Our goal is to allow anyone, from an individual to an institution, to custody their digital assets and also have seamless banking services related to that custody.” Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the United States with its own financial regulatory body, the OCIF. But all laws for banking and insurance in the jurisdiction are based on U.S. laws, such as the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA). Because Puerto Rico is part of the U.S. banking system, this allows FV Bank to hold a master account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Paschini said FV Bank has chosen a custody tech infrastructure partner, but its name has not been made public yet. In terms of liquidity, he said the bank will be working with several large over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency trading desks.  FV Bank’s regulated custody offering, which uses a technique called multi-party-computation (MPC) to protect private cryptographic keys, also comes with $20 million worth of insurance cover, sourced from the Lloyd’s of London market. “We’ll be starting out on day one with a $20 million-dollar policy and we’ll grow that policy commensurate with the assets under management,” said Paschini. Note: This article was originally published here – https://www.coindesk.com/business/2020/12/21/puerto-rico-based-fv-bank-to-offer-regulated-crypto-custody-in-the-us/