Entrepreneur-focused challenger bank OakNorth is proving just how big an impact these digital-only alternatives could have on traditional banking by breaking even in its first year on the market.

Credit card management app U51.com is the latest Chinese FinTech startups to land a $1bn-plus valuation as the company announces its $310m Series C round.

The InsurTech space continues to excite investors with the largest funding round raised in Europe to date just being picked up by FinanceFox.

Peer-to-peer lender FirstP2P has raised $70m in its Series C round of funding from CCB International and San Shan Capital Partners.

AvantCredit is getting the green light from UK regulators with the FCA now fully authorising the online lender.

Players from the PropTech and FinTech spaces are coming closer together with a new partnership between property search portal Zoopla and online mortgage broker Trussle.

Lloyds Bank is looking for fresh talent to improve its digital strategy with a job posting for a new head of fintech discovery at the banking group.

Social Finance (SoFi) is expanding its offering to include employee benefits and financial wellness programme SoFi at Work.

UK-based invoice financing company DueCourse has raised £6.25m ($8.1m) in new funding. The financing comes from German e-commerce-giant Rocket Internet’s venture arm Global Founders Capital.