Robinhood Leads Platforms Higher in Volatile Week as FinTech IPO Index Gains 4.3%

The past five trading days have been a roller coaster, as interest rates and the Fed’s stance on cuts to those rates proved top of mind.

Although comments from the central bank pointed to slowing growth and higher inflation, the FinTech IPO Index was up 4.3% and almost all of its components marched higher.

Robinhood’s stock led the companies that posted positive stock market performance, gathering more than 21%.

Late this week, Robinhood said that it added a prediction markets hub to its app, allowing users to trade on the outcomes of events. The first contracts began rolling out this week, and were aimed at the upper bound of the target Fed funds rate — and where things will stand in May. Other contracts touched on upcoming college basketball tournaments. The prediction markets hub and the corresponding contracts will initially be available in the U.S. through Kalshi, an exchange regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

dLocal’s 13.7% surge helped push platforms, as a group, higher. A new partnership between dLocal and Temu is focused on 14 emerging markets in Africa, Asia and Latin America, expanding localized payment solutions for Temu customers.

Futu shares gained 1.5%. The stock rose on results that showed a huge leap in sales, surging more than 86% year over year (YoY) to $570.6 million in revenue, as the firm’s 25 million global users tallied at the end of the year were up 16%. Total client assets were up 53% to $95.7 billion. The quarter’s trading volume, at $371.5 billion, was an all time high, and trading volumes for U.S. stocks surged by 195% YoY to peak of over $267 billion.

OneConnect’s stock gathered 3.5%. The company’s fourth-quarter results detailed that revenues from Ping An and Lufax were 44.6% lower to RMB 190.8 million (about $26.3 million); revenues from third-party customers slipped by 19% to RMB 224.4 million (about $30.6 million). Within the digital banking segment, sales were 62.7% lower to RMB 92.2 million (about $12.7 million).

BNPL Names Gain Ground

Affirm’s stock was 2.3% higher through the past few sessions.

As reported this week, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider says it plans to begin furnishing information about all of its payment plans to Experian as of April 1. This move will expand Affirm’s credit reporting to Experian to include its pay-over-time products, in addition to the monthly installments of longer-term loans that are already reported to Experian. The activity reported will include biweekly payment plans, Pay in 30 (single installment), Pay-in-2 and Pay-in-6 offerings.

Separately, payments platform Adyen and Affirm have extended their partnership into the U.K. Under the expanded collaboration, Adyen’s merchant customers in the U.K. can now integrate Affirm’s installment payment services directly into their checkout systems.

Also within the BNPL space, and as noted by PYMNTS earlier in the month, Sezzle added new shopping features to its platform. The new features include Sezzle On-Demand, created in response to what the company says was a strong demand for a non-subscription version of its subscription product. Shoppers can create a single-use virtual card for a set amount, allowing them to split payments “without being limited to partnered merchants,” Sezzle said. Moreover, the platform includes personalized recommendations and instant price drop alerts. The company has also introduced an “auto couponing” feature. Sezzle’s shares added 6.7%.

Flywire’s stock was up a scant 0.2%.

In an announcement, Haman Group, an inbound tour operator in Scandinavia, said that it had selected Flywire as its exclusive international payments partner for Authentic Scandinavia and Authentic Europe, two of the Haman Group’s travel brands. The joint efforts will see Flywire into the company’s booking system for efficient payment processing and reconciliation. Payment reminders are sent automatically, and all payment processes are digitized, according to the release.

SoFi’s 11% leap came as hotel rewards program Wyndham Rewards partnered with Galileo Financial Technologies, SoFi’s technology platform, to launch a debit card that features rewards as cardholders accrue points for purchases that include everyday spending.

The companies said the points can be redeemed for a wide range of rewards, and cardholders are also eligible for perks like complimentary Wyndham Rewards Gold level membership, hotel booking discounts and an annual point bonus. The Wyndham Rewards Debit Card is powered by Galileo Financial Technologies, issued by Sunrise Banks N.A. and backed by Mastercard as the payments network, the firms said.

Janover’s fourth-quarter results detailed a 488% YoY increase in Software as a Service subscription revenue, boosting overall consolidated top line to $629,000. Platform fees gathered 39% to about $440,000. Janover’s shares declined 7.4%.

Open Lending’s shares plummeted 27.8%, having postponed its fourth-quarter earnings results, while it works to finalize its financial statements, file its SEC documents and reschedule its results “as soon as practicable.” Sell-side firm Jefferies downgraded the stock from buy to hold, and cut its price target to $3.70 from $8, citing “operational uncertainty.”