Headlines in Banking for this week

  • Santander made €585m from money transfers in 2016, or nearly a tenth of its global profit of €6.2bn, according to documents seen by The Guardian. The leaked documents also show that the bank charges six times as much as TransferWise for sending £10,000 from the UK to Spain.
  • Monzo has been granted a full unrestricted banking license by the PRA and FCA. The digital bank also revealed on its blog that it is currently testing live current accounts with a small group of users, and will slowly expand the group over the coming months to ensure its banking system is tested and works as expected
  • Amazon Business has launched its new service in the UK in association with Visa and Barclaycard, Citi, HSBC, and Lloyds Bank. Visa will work with the four banks to provide a comprehensive expense management service for corporate card account holders who move their procurement needs to the site.
  • JP Morgan Chase spent $600m on emerging fintech solutions which include building and improving digital and mobile services and partnering with fintech companies. In total the bank spent more than $9.5 billion on tech last year, with about $3 billion going towards new initiatives