Top fintech stories this week – 30 June 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Innovation
Financial Stability Board muses implications from fintech
Financial Stability Board (FSB), an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, has issued a report analysing the potential financial stability implications from fintech.
Money20/20 Europe: a finale for financial inclusion
For the finale of the final day of Money20/20 Europe, financial inclusion was discussed with resolute optimism for a bright future.
ARM says we are A-OK with AI
New research commissioned by ARM has highlighted that the tide might be turning in the acceptance of artificial intelligence (AI), not only in the industry but in the wider world.
Nets and Sthaler team up for finger-vein enabled payments
London-based biometric tech vendor Sthaler is working with Nordic payments provider Nets to introduce finger-vein enabled payments to the consumer market in Europe.
Association of Banks of Singapore launches PayNow mobile payments service
The Association of Banks of Singapore (ABS) has unveiled a new funds transfer service – PayNow – that requires only a mobile and identity card numbers to enrol.
Alipay comes to Spain with BBVA
BBVA has signed an agreement with Chinese tech giant Ant Financial to enable Chinese tourists to pay in Spanish stores using the Alipay mobile wallet. BBVA is the first Spanish financial institution to be working with Alipay.
InvestCloud brings fintech incubator to London
US-based InvestCloud is going to launch a fintech incubator and accelerator at its European headquarters in Soho, London. Dubbed InvestCloud Innovation Centre, it will enable start-ups and established firms to create wealth management solutions supported by the InvestCloud platform.
Money20/20 Europe: Asia in the ascendant
Denmark took a back seat at Money20/20 Europe as the lively fintech scenes in China and India fell under the spotlight with a wealth of information and stats.
Hong Kong gets its own fintech association, FTAHK
The Fintech Association of Hong Kong (FTAHK) has officially launched “to champion an open, inclusive and diverse fintech community in Hong Kong”.
Money20/20 Europe: regtech – from here to agility
The shift from analogues to digital – according to Michael Meyer, Middlegame Ventures, during a regtech discussion at Money20/20 Europe – a major European bank he spoke with files over 50,000 pages as part of its quarterley regulatory reporting.
Money20/20 Europe: advancing APIs to a happy place
The interest from the fintech community in APIs burns brighter than a thousand suns, but where will this technology and the spirit of open banking take us?
Nominate your projects for Banking Technology Award!
Banking Technology is on the lookout for all the best FinTech projects of the year! Recognising excellence, innovation and the use of IT in banking and financial services, the Banking Technology Awards will be taking place on 13 December in London. Think your achievements deserve a special recognition? Or know projects that do? Nominate today […]
Money20/20 Europe: is banking a dead cat?
What is the future of banking? Is it a giant menu from which customers (individuals and businesses) choose who is to provide what contingent upon well-informed choice and best value. Or is it a model where banks still rule from the centre, providing customers the simplicity of a range of products through a single provider. Putting aside whether or not this highly competitive state is possible, which is the future direction of banking?
Visa invests in paytech firm and bank Klarna
Visa is investing in Klarna, a Swedish payments and banking firm, and the two firms intend “to develop a future strategic partnership”.
Money20/20 Europe: PSD2 creates more questions than answers
The second Payment Services Directive (PSD2) is creating more questions and issues than the answers it ultimately should offer.
Challenger bank Monese goes pan-European with mobile current account
UK-based digital bank Monese has expanded its current account service to 19 countries in Europe, enabling customers to open bank accounts and “bank like a local”, even if they are not a local resident.
R3’s Corda DLT platform tested for euro commercial paper issuance
Blockchain consortium R3 (which now describes itself as an “enterprise software firm”) and four of its member banks have created a prototype solution for issuance of euro commercial paper (ECP) on R3’s Corda distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform.
IBM and seven European banks team for SME trade finance blockchain project
A group of seven large European banks, Digital Trade Chain Consortium, have turned to IBM to build and host a new trade finance platform, based on IBM Blockchain powered by Hyperledger Fabric.
Mobile-only bank Pepper now live
Israel’s Bank Leumi has launched its new digital banking subsidiary, Pepper.
The rise of Islamic fintech, global opportunities for Bahrain
In its recent survey of the Islamic finance industry, S&P estimated that the sector’s total assets have now reached just over $2 trillion. Given that the modern version of Islamic finance is only decades old, this represents exceptional growth over a comparatively short period of time.
Money20/20 Europe: let AI negotiate
Are trends eclectic for artificial intelligence (AI)? Perhaps not as the fintech world is getting more imaginative and calling for the machines to negotiate on behalf of less-than-objective humans. At this morning’s (26 June) sessions at Money20/20 in Copenhagen, the themes of AI use cases in financial services and fraud were discussed.
mBank moves into fintech vendor space with new digital banking system
Poland-based mBank has started to license its mobile and online banking system to other financial institutions outside Poland. The first taker is La Banque Postale (LBP) in France. The implementation will be carried out with the help of Accenture, mBank’s “strategic partner”. Alice Holzman, director of digital at LBP and lead of the bank’s New […]
Insurtech firm Clark and N26 launch digital insurance service
Clark, a German insurance robo-advisor, has inked a deal with mobile bank N26. Clark says its Bancassurance-API will help customers of N26 “to better understand their current tariffs and improve their insurance situation”.
Venmo tests physical debit card
Venmo is planning to introduce a physical debit card to supplement its payments app.
Canadian robo-advisor Wealthsimple arrives in UK
Wealthsimple, a Canada-based online investment management service, is coming to the UK.
Japan and Australia regulators to co-operate on fintech
The Financial Services Agency of Japan (JFSA) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) will work together to promote innovation in financial services in Japan and Australia. Both have completed a framework and they will share information and support the entry of fintech firms into each other’s markets. ASIC says this framework will “help open […]
Fintech funding round-up: 23 June 2017
For the third day in a row we present a fintech funding round-up. The previous two were here and here. Our latest report features Blockchain, Julia Computing and Mswipe Technologies. We’ll begin with a confusing company name. Blockchain (yes, really), a UK-based software platform, has raised a Series B of $40 million with Lakestar and […]
Top fintech stories this week – 23 June 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Workup a fintech sweat with Isbank’s start-up programme
Turkey’s largest private bank, Isbank, has unveiled its entrepreneurship programme for fintech start-ups in the country. Since forming an innovation team within its Digital Banking Unit, the bank says it has become “much closer” to tech entrepreneurs in the republic. The innovation team is working remotely at Kolektif House Levent (a co-working space for Turkish […]
FinTech Australia releases fintech ecosystem map
Industry body FinTech Australia has released its first member ecosystem map, to show the nation’s “strengths and diversity”, particularly in wealth generation and lending. The map (see image below) lists 119 members of FinTech Australia, along with the nation’s key financial services regulators. Danielle Szetho, FinTech Australia CEO, says: “The broad range, depth and quality […]
Fintech funding round-up: 22 June 2017
It was only yesterday we did a fintech funding round-up. But as there’s a mad dash for cash, here’s another one. Features Digital Financial Services Lab, TrueLayer and Enterprise Ireland. Digital Financial Services Lab (DFS Lab) will invest $250,000 in four separate fintech start-ups that are building products to help low-income consumers in developing markets. […]
Commercial banks join the retail revolution: three reasons to consider transformation
Long-term growth will require the commercial banking industry to embrace digital transformation in a way that benefits the institutions’ stakeholder base and satisfies the needs of its end-user clients. And here are three reasons why a commercial bank should consider transformation.
Case study: Valley National Bank – cloud atlas
Valley National Bank, a $23 billion regional bank holding company headquartered in northern New Jersey, is undertaking a widespread technology refresh to improve customer experience and profitability.
How banks can beat the fintech threat – Capgemini’s 2017 World Retail Banking Report
Facing disruption from fintech providers, traditional banks must embrace APIs and the open-source model to avoid losing their place at the centre of consumers’ financial lives, a new report warns.
Mastercard launches competition for African financial inclusion
The Mastercard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity (FRP) has launched a new competition to find financial products and services that improve the lives of poor people in rural areas of Africa. The 2017 competition will follow a rolling format and will be open throughout the year with applications submitted and evaluated periodically. The first submission […]
Softbank ups investment in security AI firm Cybereason
Softbank has upped its investment in security firm Cybereason, as the focus on artificial intelligence (AI) continues.
Morgan Stanley drives diversity with innovation lab launch
Morgan Stanley has unveiled an innovation lab with the aim of promoting diversity top of the agenda. According to the Financial Times, which has seen an application form, a four-month programme will begin in July and end in a symposium that will “expose companies to potential investors through showcase presentations”. The FT says any start-up […]
Money’s the honey for Swift global payments innovation challenge
Swift is offering funding of up to €200,000 for the two winning fintech finalists of its industry challenge to develop new overlay services that use its global payments innovation (gpi) platform. The winners will work with banks on collaborative concepts that solve additional industry challenges in cross-border payments on top of gpi. As reported previously, […]
Colu launches local digital currency for London
Colu, a blockchain-powered platform provider, has unveiled its second currency in the UK – the “Local Pound, East London”. The firm’s idea is to provide people in East London with a digital, localised currency and so create a “closed-loop economy”. It uses Colu’s digital wallet app, and individuals can pay from a smartphone. It is […]
