Raphael Stevens

Digital bank Starling will not re-apply for a European Union banking license and will instead pursue international expansion through its software business Engine, incoming CEO said.
Engine is a software platform that Starling sells to other companies, so that they can set up their own digital banks.
Raman Bhatia outlined the company’s international expansion plans, in his first public remarks since his March appointment as Starling CEO in March.

Raman Bhatia, incoming chief executive officer of Starling. Bhatia moved over from OVO Energy Ltd., where he was CEO. 
Zed Jameson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

AMSTERDAM — Digital bank Starling will not re-apply for a European Union banking license and instead pursue international expansion through its software business, the incoming CEO said, in a diverging approach to overseas growth from some of its rivals.
Starling is among the U.K.’s breed of so-called “neobanks” — digital-only banks that usually have no branches. It started life in 2014, has racked up 4 million customers and was last officially valued at £2.5 billion ($3.2 billion).

The digital bank, which is backed by Goldman Sachs, has traditional offered banking services, like current accounts and more recently lending. Starling’s customers are mainly in the U.K. The company sought to expand abroad by applying for an Irish banking license, which would have given the bank access to the European Union market. Starling withdrew that application in 2022.

Raman Bhatia outlined the company’s international expansion plans on Wednesday, in his first public remarks since his appointment as CEO in March, taking over from founder Anne Boden.
Bhatia said that the company has no plans to re-apply for the EU banking license to push into new countries. Instead, international expansion will be driven by Engine, a software platform that Starling sells to other companies, so they can set up their own digital banks.
“I am very bullish about this approach around internationalization of what is the best of Starling, the proprietary tech versus market by market, idiosyncratic regulatory regime, capital requirements, and building trust and brand extension, which is unproven for any plan,” Bhatia said during a fireside chat at the Money 2020 conference moderated by CNBC.
He described opportunities in places like Thailand and the Middle East as “immense.”

Engine is a unique model amongst neobanks, which have tended to pore over consumer-focused apps and services. Starling is betting it can sell the technology to other banks.
Salt Bank in Romania and AMP in Australia are Starling’s first Engine customers.
Bhatia said he’d like the “double down” on the Engine strategy and capture market share in the enterprise software space. More

TXSE Chairman and CEO James Lee said the Dallas-headquartered group has raised $120 million with the support of more than two dozen investors.
The Wall Street Journal reported on the endeavor earlier, saying the exchange is billing itself as a “more-CEO friendly” alternative to the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq in the face of rising regulation.
TXSE’s website said it will be a “fully electronic, national securities exchange that will seek registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.”

The Texas flag is seen before the game between the Houston Cougars and the Texas Longhorns at TDECU Stadium on Oct. 21, 2023 in Houston.
Tim Warner | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

BlackRock and Citadel Securities are among investors backing a group seeking to start a new national stock exchange in Texas.
TXSE Chairman and CEO James Lee said the Dallas-headquartered group has raised $120 million with the support of more than two dozen investors.

“Texas’s booming economy and the strong economic and population growth among states in the southeast quadrant of the U.S. present incredible opportunities for businesses — and ultimately the Texas Stock Exchange,” TXSE CEO James Lee said on LinkedIn.
The Wall Street Journal reported on the endeavor earlier, saying the exchange is billing itself as a “more-CEO friendly” alternative to the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq in the face of rising regulation and a “disaffection with increasing compliance costs.”
A contested Nasdaq rule requires listed companies to disclose diversity information on their board of directors. The SEC approved the plan in 2021, but it now faces a new challenge in a federal appeals court.
TXSE’s website said it will be a “fully electronic, national securities exchange that will seek registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.” The TXSE is aiming to start trading in 2025 and host listings in 2026, according to the Journal’s report.
The Dallas Morning News reported TXSE will target companies in the “southeastern quadrant of the U.S.” In an interview with the newspaper, Lee thanked Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for his support and leadership. More

Financial technology startup Nium told CNBC Wednesday it raised $50 million in a fundraising round was led by an undisclosed Southeast Asian sovereign wealth fund.
The round, backed by venture capital firms BOND, NewView Capital, and Tribe Capital, values the company at $1.4 billion — a 30% discount to its previous valuation.
Despite the lower valuation, Nium is confident it can go public in the next 18 months and is eyeing the third or fourth quarter of 2025 for its stock market debut.

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Financial technology startup Nium told CNBC Wednesday it raised $50 million in new funds from investors, and is targeting an initial public offering in the next 18 months.
The fundraising round was led by an undisclosed Southeast Asian sovereign wealth fund and backed by venture capital firms BOND, NewView Capital, and Tribe Capital.

It places Nium’s valuation at $1.4 billion. That marks a 30% discount to its previous valuation of $2 billion, which the firm notched in 2022 when it last raised external venture capital.
Prajit Nanu, Nium’s CEO and founder, said the firm would use the fresh capital to double down on mergers and acquisitions, targeting other growth-stage payment firms.
Nanu said his company’s down round was the result of a broader depression in public market valuations of fintech companies.

Fintechs have seen their stock prices slashed in recent years as a result of macroeconomic pressures, including high inflation and rising interest rates.
“Being realistic, when we raised in early 2022, public markets were killing it,” Nanu said. “The public markets have not been kind to fintech.”

IPO in 18 months

Nanu said that, despite the lower valuation, he is still bullish on the growth story for Nium and is confident the company will go public in the next 18 months, targeting a flotation in the third or fourth quarter of 2025.
He added that valuation isn’t a concern for him and that it won’t matter what value the company prices its shares as markets are volatile by nature.
“Whether you go public at $1 billion, $5 billion, it doesn’t matter. Because the valuation is only when you get bought, or when you go through an IPO,” he said.
He noted the example of Stripe, which raised a $95 billion valuation in the heady days of 2021 before slashing its value to $50 billion and then boosting its valuation to $65 billion in secondary share transactions.

Not interested in crypto

Nanu said he’s not interested in acquiring companies in the cryptocurrency space as he doesn’t yet see merchant demand for crypto as a payment method.
“It’s on the very early side of infrastructure,” Nanu said. “Nium in the end is a layer on top of a lot of banks in the world.”
“Banks have gone from, crypto is hot, to not crypto, to crypto,” he added. “It’s not one shoe fits all.”
That’s despite a huge rise in prices of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, which have rallied off the back of renewed investor interest following the approval of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the U.S.
Bitcoin has seen its price climb roughly 150% in the last 12 months. More

SINGAPORE — Customers in Asia-Pacific have picked their favorite banks as lenders scramble to meet consumer expectations in a fast-changing environment.
After a prolonged period of high inflation — and interest rates — banks in the region are starting to navigate the global trend of lower rates. They’re also facing technological innovation that has the potential to transform the sector, as generative AI gains traction around the world.

Against this backdrop, CNBC and market research firm Statista surveyed 22,000 individuals with a checking or savings account in 14 major economies. The report below — the first of its kind — is designed to highlight the banks that best meet consumer needs in their respective markets.
For the survey, participants evaluated their overall satisfaction with a bank, and whether they would recommend it to others. They also rated each based on five criteria: trust, terms and conditions (such as fees and rates), customer service, digital services and quality of financial advice. Read the full methodology here. The ranking only included banks that qualified according to the criteria described in the report.
See below to see which banks made the list in your location.

Australia

1
ING Group

2
Bank Australia

3
Westpac

4
Ubank

5
NAB

6
Alex Bank

7
Newcastle Permanent Building Society

8
People’s Choice Credit Union

9
Beyond Bank

10
ME

11
Suncorp

12
MyState Bank

13
Australian Military Bank

14
Community First bank

15
Heritage Bank

Source: CNBC & Statista

Dutch bank ING came out top in Australia, against a sea of local competition. Like most economies, Australians valued trust the most and were less concerned on the financial advice they were given.

China

1
China Merchants Bank

2
Bank of China

3
ICBC

4
HSBC

5
China Construction Bank

6
Postal Savings Bank of China

7
China Minsheng Bank

8
Standard Chartered

9
SPD Bank

10
Bank of Communications

11
Agricultural Bank of China

12
UBS (China) Limited

13
JPMorgan Chase Bank (China)

14
China Everbright Bank

15
Ping An Bank

16
DBS Bank (China)

17
Bank of Suzhou

18
Bank of Jiangsu

19
Chongqing Rural Commercial Bank

20
Hang Seng Bank

21
Hubei Rural Credit Union Association

22
Huishang Bank

23
East West Bank

24
WeBank

25
Hankou Bank (HKB)

Source: CNBC & Statista

China Merchants Bank, listed in both Shanghai and Hong Kong, earned the top spot in mainland China beating both domestic and foreign players.

Hong Kong

1
China Construction Bank

2
China Minsheng Bank

3
ICBC

4
SPD Bank

5
China Everbright Bank

6
Bank of Communication

7
HSBC

8
CGB

9
Livi Bank

10
China Merchants Bank

Source: CNBC & Statista

China Construction Bank, one of China’s four major state-owned banking institutions, was ranked the top lender over foreign players like HSBC.

India

1
ICICI Bank

2
HDFC Bank

3
Axis Bank

4
Kotak Mahindra Bank

5
State Bank of India

6
HSBC

7
Paytm Payments Bank

8
Standard Chartered

9
Federal Bank

10
IndusInd Bank

11
Union Bank of India

12
Karnataka Bank

13
Punjab National Bank

14
Bank of Baroda

15
Bandhan Bank

16
Fincare

17
DSCB

18
Kerala Gramin Bank

19
Fino Payments Bank

20
APCOB

21
Punjab Gramin Bank

22
IDFC First Bank

23
UCO Bank

24
RBLBank

25
New India Bank

Source: CNBC & Statista

ICICI bank, a leading private sector bank in India, was the top pick in the country despite strong competition from mostly local lenders.

Indonesia

1
Bank Central Asia

2
Bank Mandiri

3
Sea Bank

4
Jago

5
Raya Bank

6
Bank Negara Indonesia

7
United Overseas Bank

8
PermataBank

9
Cimb Niaga

10
DBS

11
Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI)

12
BNC

13
Bank Muamalat

14
Jenius

15
BCA Syariah

16
HSBC

17
BDP DIY

18
Bank Aceh

19
Standard Chartered

20
Bank Sumsel Babel

Source: CNBC & Statista

Bank Central Asia, Indonesia’s largest private commercial bank, beat the competition to clinch the top spot. Customers valued both trust as well as digital services in their ranking.  

Japan

1
SBI Sumishin Net Bank

2
Rakuten Bank

3
Sony Bank

4
Aeon Bank

5
au Jibun Bank

6
PayPay Bank

7
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation

8
Senshu Ikeda Bank

9
The Juhachi-Shinwa Bank

10
Iyo Bank

11
Ehime Bank

12
Japan Post Bank

13
Ja Bank

14
Kyushu Labor Bank

15
Hamamatsu Iwata Shinkin Bank

16
Keiyo Bank

17
Bank of Fukuoka

18
Shinsei Bank

19
The Nishi-Nippon City Bank

20
Aozora Bank

21
Saitama Resona Bank

22
MUFG Bank

23
Lawson Bank

24
Gunma Bank

25
Hachijuni Bank

26
Rokin Bank

27
Kiyo Bank

28
Tokyo Star Bank

29
The Bank of Okinawa

30
Kyoto Chuo Shinkin Bank

31
Abukuma Shinkin Bank

32
North Pacific Bank

33
Ogaki Kyoritsu Bank

34
Tottori Bank

35
Bank of Kyoto

Source: CNBC & Statista

SBI Sumishin Net Bank, a Japan-based company, managed to beat other domestic lenders to come out top. Japanese citizens valued trust as their most important criteria.

Malaysia

1
Maybank

2
Standard Chartered

3
Maybank Islamic

4
HSBC

5
RHB Islamic Bank

6
Bank Islam

7
AmBank Group Islamic

8
OCBC Bank

9
United Overseas Bank

10
Hong Leong Islamic Bank

Source: CNBC & Statista

Maybank, which is the largest bank by market value in Malaysia, was the customers top pick against competition from domestic and foreign lenders.

New Zealand

1
Bank of New Zealand

2
ASB Bank

3
The Co-operative Bank

4
SBS Bank

5
Kiwibank

Source: CNBC & Statista

Bank of New Zealand, one of New Zealand’s big four banks, earned the top spot among consumers who also valued trust as the most important criteria. In some economies, like New Zealand, there are fewer competitors in the market and the size of the banking market differs, thus only five banks made the list.

Philippines

1
Philippine National Bank

2
Union Bank (Philippines)

3
Maya Bank

4
OFBank

5
UnionDigital Bank

6
UNO Digital Bank

7
GoTyme Bank

8
LANDBANK

9
Metrobank

10
BPI

Source: CNBC & Statista

Philippine National Bank, one of the largest banks in the country, earned the top rank against competition from largely local lenders.

Singapore

1
DBS

2
HSBC

3
Citibank

4
Bank of Singapore

5
United Overseas Bank

Source: CNBC & Statista

Singapore’s biggest bank DBS beat its domestic peers to clinch the top spot in the city-state. Given the small market size, there are fewer banking competitors as a result only five made the list.

South Korea

1
TossBank

2
KakaoBank

3
Kwangju Bank

4
K bank

5
Jeonbuk Bank

6
KB Kookmin Bank

7
Industrial Bank of Korea

8
DGB Daegu Bank

9
BNK Busan Bank

10
KEB Hana Bank

Source: CNBC & Statista

Toss Bank, an internet-only bank based in South Korea, managed to fend off domestic competition to emerge as top lender in the country.

Taiwan

1
E.Sun Financial

2
Bank SinoPac

3
Standard Chartered

4
CTBC Bank

5
Taipei Fubon Bank

6
Taishin International Bank

7
HSBC

8
Rakuten International Commercial Bank

9
Cathay Financial

10
Mega International Commercial Bank

Source: CNBC & Statista

Taiwan’s E.Sun Financial, headquartered in Taipei, earned the top ranking with customers focused on trust and less concerned about financial advice.

Thailand

1
Kasikornbank

2
Siam Commercial Bank

3
Bank of Ayudhya

4
United Overseas Bank

5
Krung Thai Bank

Source: CNBC & Statista

Kasikornbank bank, Thailand’s second-largest lender, came out top in the country. Only five banks made the list as there are fewer competitors and the size of banking market varies.

Vietnam

1
Techcombank

2
Vietcombank

3
BIDV

4
Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank

5
ACB

6
Vietinbank

7
VIB

8
TPBank

9
Sacombank

10
VP Bank

11
BVBank

12
Shinhan Bank

13
SeA Bank

14
HDBank

15
Ocean Bank

Source: CNBC & Statista

Vietnamese private lender Techcombank is the customers’ top pick in the country, where trust again was the key factor for survey respondents. More

Keith Gill, known on Reddit under the pseudonym DeepF——-Value and as Roaring Kitty, is seen on a fragment of a youtube video displayed on a smartphone screen in front of GameStop logo.
Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Almost five years ago, GameStop champion Keith Gill revealed a $53,000 bet in his favorite video game retailer. This week, Gill’s net worth is over $289 million.
The meme stock leader, who can move the stock by simply posting cryptic messages online, shared a screenshot of his portfolio Monday night, showing he held onto his 5 million shares of GameStop and 120,000 call options even after a 21% rally. He made a whopping $79 million on paper on Monday — a single trading day.

Gill, whose handle is “DeepF——Value” on Reddit and “Roaring Kitty” on YouTube and X, started sharing his GameStop position in September 2019 with a $53,000 stake, encouraging a band of retail traders to squeeze out short-selling hedge funds. By the end of the jaw-dropping episode in April 2021, Gill exercised his call options position to have 200,000 common shares.
The size of his positions dramatically increased when he resurfaced online three years later. Meanwhile, GameStop, a stock he originally bought because he thought it was a deep-value bet, is still struggling with shifting away from brick-and-mortar video game purchases to e-commerce.

Arrows pointing outwards

“The most successful players are those that are just out of their minds. You have to be made of something different to trade like that,” said Michael Khouw, co-founder and chief strategist of OpenInterest.PRO.
“You would never see a professional trader make those kinds of numbers,” Khouw added. “Most of our risk managers would have come down on this way before you ever got to something swinging around like this. It’s just unimaginable.”
Gill could run into some trouble, though. The Wall Street Journal reported that Morgan Stanley’s E-Trade broker was considering booting him because of the worry that what he was doing could amount to market manipulation. 

CNBC was unable to verify what Gill has shared about his GameStop stake and portfolio.
Next steps?
The last screenshot of Gill’s portfolio showed 120,000 call options against GameStop with a strike price of $20 that expires June 21.
Put another way: If the stock closes above $20 that day, Gill could exercise the options at $20 apiece, leaving him owning an additional 12 million shares. A total of 17 million shares would make him the fourth-biggest shareholder in GameStop, coming in behind Vanguard, BlackRock and Ryan Cohen’s RC Ventures, according to FactSet.

Arrows pointing outwards

The notional value, if exercised, would be $240 million worth of stock bought at $20.
“Unless you have the money to take custody of the stock after exercising the calls, you’re just renting them with the assumption of selling them, or selling stock against them before they expire,” said CC Lagator, co-founder of brokerage Options AI. “The issue on a position of that size is, it would be very apparent to other market participants that those calls or stock versus those calls was being sold, putting a lot of pressure on the stock.”

$1 billion?

If Gill exercises the calls, that would leave him with 17 million shares. At Monday’s close of $28, the stake would be worth $476 million.
At GameStop’s recent peak of $64.83 on May 14, it would be worth $1.1 billion. (His cost to acquire such a stake this way would be $421.4 million.)
Gill could also roll those call options to a further expiration date to buy some time, which means exiting the current position and immediately entering a similar position. However, that could be a costly option.”The problem with that is he’s going to be wasting money on new option premium each time he does that,” Lagator said.
Shares of GameStop fell 5.4% on Tuesday. More

Nothing has been able to stop American consumers. At first they splashed covid-19 savings on home-exercise bicycles; now they are more likely to plump for beachside holidays. Predictions, made by bank bosses last summer, that households would be squeezed by inflation have been confounded. Instead, their outlays have powered American GDP ever higher, at a pace beyond the country’s G7 peers.But are the predictions at last coming true? Monthly consumer-spending growth fell from 0.7% in March to just 0.2% in April. Overall spending shrank in real terms. Retail sales have weakened, with brands from McDonald’s, a burger purveyor, to 3M, a maker of sticky tape, warning that customers are closing their wallets. The recent spending data, released on May 31st, helped wipe almost a percentage point off the prediction of annual gdp growth from the Atlanta branch of the Federal Reserve, cutting its “nowcast” for the second quarter of the year to 1.8%. More