What are you ? I ’ m a mobile payment solution that ’ s activated solely through your smartphone . But I just bought a new wallet … Get with the times ! The only wallets you need today are digital . I ’ m not sure about that ; it ’ s a replica of that one Samuel L . Jackson had in Pulp Fiction . Does it help your physical cards manage subscriptions , control spending , or fight fraud ? No . How do virtual cards do that ? Using two-factor ID , the card can be frozen after each transaction , rendering it useless for criminals . Sounds handy , but my wallet ’ s still pretty funny . It might work for Samuel . Anyone less cool than him would be better off checking out what virtual cards can do for them . I guess everything is going online these days . You can even order McDonalds and get it delivered from an app . Exactly ! Do you know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France ? ...

� STRIPE Reached an all-timehigh value of $ 95bn . It is currently the most valuable startup in the US .

� ATOM BANK One of the UK ’ s original digital bank raised £ 40m with the intention of prepares for an IPO in 2022 / 23 .

� LLOYDS BANK Committing $ 4bn to partnerships with fintech firms , the bank appears to have its sights set on finance ’ s future .

� GREENSILL BANK The bank ’ s collapse has become a crisis throughout affected German communities , with reports of over $ 600m in municipality money lost .

� TENCENT Following a rapid 8.4 % drop in Tencent ’ s stock price , the company reportedly lost $ 62bn of its value . According to some estimates this has made its financial services worth “ practically zero ”

fintechmagazine . com 13