Fintech funding round-up: 30 June 2017
A handy round-up of who’s investing in what in the fintech space. Featuring Revolut, Tango Card and ClauseMatch.
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.
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”.
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.
Mobile-only bank Pepper now live
Israel’s Bank Leumi has launched its new digital banking subsidiary, Pepper.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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, […]
BBVA taps into biometrics with new firm Veridas
BBVA and start-up Das-Nano have formed Veridas, a new firm specialising in biometrics for client identification and authentication systems. Veridas, which will be directed by Eduardo Azanza, who is also co-founder of Das-Nano, will research and develop software for the digital verification and authentication of personal identity, through facial, voice, image or document recognition, or […]
Who is the greatest fintech leader of 2017?
This year’s Banking Technology Awards are taking place on 13 December in London and once again we will be recognising individuals for leading and playing an instrumental role in devising and/or delivering the technology strategy to support the key business objectives of an organisation. The Tech Leadership Award category is open to all industry participants worldwide – those […]
The Monday mindset: 19 June 2017
Fintech zeitgeist! Every Monday, we might look back at last week; look ahead to this week; share a few thoughts (our own or others); or discuss anything that catches our eye. This week, Anita Liu Harvey, VP for strategy and innovation at Barclaycard, fires us in the direction of “the magic bullets of future retail”. […]
Blockchain fuels IBM and Standard Chartered insurance policy pilot
American International Group (AIG), IBM and Standard Chartered have piloted the “first” multinational, smart contract based insurance policy using blockchain. The trio converted a controlled master policy written in the UK, and three local policies in the US, Singapore and Kenya, into a smart contract that provides a shared view of policy data and documentation […]
Voice is a natural step in the technology evolution – Amazon
If there is any doubt in which direction the technology world will head next, its being brushed aside by Amazon Web Services (AWS); voice is the natural progression. Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication) reports. Speaking at TechXLR8 in London, David Low, “principal evangelist” at Amazon Alexa EU, highlighted that the voice user interface will be […]
Banking Technology Awards 2017 now open for entry!
Know any innovative products, inspirational projects, skilled teams or visionary leaders that deserve a special recognistion this year? Nominate them for a Banking Technology Award!
Avaloq Community Conference 2017: not trapped in a geography
Avaloq has hit back at Temenos’ claims that it is “trapped in a relatively small geography” by pointing to its revenue rise and innovation drive as reasons for something to be cheerful about.
Avaloq Community Conference 2017: embracing blockchain and Bitcoin innovation
Swiss core banking software vendor Avaloq is prepared to tap into the potential of blockchain and Bitcoin over the next 12 months as it seeks to experiment and innovate more in these areas.
White paper: choosing the right in-memory computing solution
As in-memory computing (IMC) gains momentum across a wide range of applications, from fintech and ecommerce to telecommunications and internet of things (IoT), many companies are looking to IMC solutions to help them process and analyse large amounts of data in real time.
Calastone completes first phase of blockchain project
Global funds transaction network Calastone says it has “successfully” completed the first phase of its blockchain distributed market infrastructure proof-of-concept (PoC).
Softbank continues spending spree, grabbing smart robotics firm from Google
Japanese tech conglomerate SoftBank continued its drive to take centre stage in the evolution of the tech industry with the acquisition of Boston Dynamics from Google/Alphabet. Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication) reports that Boston Dynamics has been a fairly high profile robotics pioneer in recent years, specialising in humanoid and quadrupedal machines apparently designed to […]
Hands off! BBVA creates patent office
With its increase in innovation BBVA has created a Global Patent Office (GPO) to protect its intellectual property (IP) – particularly in biometrics and artificial intelligence (AI). The GPO will put the bank’s IP work in a single office and offer collaboration between departments, agents and training. Don Relyea, director of the BBVA global patent […]
The age of face-to-face conversation is pretty much over
It wouldn’t quite be June if we didn’t have rain or Cisco’s annual visual networking index (VNI) forecast. We’ve had plenty of rain, now it’s time to tuck into some stats! Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication) reports that you probably didn’t need us to tell you, but internet traffic is going to grow. The total […]
TradeIX unveils blockchain platform for trade finance
TradeIX has launched its TIX Platform, the “first open platform” for trade finance powered by blockchain. The platform provides banks, alternative funders, business-to-business (B2B) networks, technology providers and corporates with a way to finance trade-related assets. Like everyone else commenting on trade finance, Rob Barnes, CEO of TradeIX, says the market has “high-cost, high-maintenance, time-consuming […]
Build your own app with TCS Bancs kit
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has unveiled its Bancs app development kit (ADK) to let banks design and build their own apps. The firm says the ADK enables financial institutions to build their digital offerings without the need for mobile development skills. The ADK comes with its own array of widgets, controls and components; and the […]
How do you stop AI from taking over the world? Make it neurotic of course
For those worried about artificial intelligence (AI) taking over the world, the University of California has got your back with an idea to make robots neurotic to stop them getting too cocky, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology‘s sister publication). One of the concerns which has been raised through the implementation of AI, and also the advancement […]
Local banking for global trading – an impossible goal?
Anders la Cour, CEO of ground-breaking payments utility Saxo Payments Banking Circle, which is underpinning the service propositions of a growing number of payments businesses, reports on the payment pain points currently faced by merchants who have ambitions to trade globally.
HSBC launches social network for business customers
HSBC Commercial Banking has launched its Connections Hub, a digital platform to connect buyers and sellers around the world. Businesses in Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Singapore, the UK and the US can sign up to the multi-lingual hub for free. The service will be available to customers in France in the coming weeks […]
Apple squares up to rivals with Pay Cash feature
Apple has unveiled Pay Cash as it looks to fight it out with PayPal, Square and Venmo in the overcrowded peer-to-peer (P2P) payments market. In a range of updates to its mobile operating system, iOS 11, new features to the iPhone and iPad are coming this autumn. Apple Pay users will be able to make […]
New edtech project for financial services, CFTE, launches
The Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CFTE), a new educational platform for the finance industry, has been unveiled. “In a tech world, we bet on people,” CFTE states.
Interview: Daniel Schreiber, co-founder and CEO of Lemonade
Ask most people about their experience with insurance, grudge purchase par excellence, and they’ll say it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Enter Lemonade, the New York-based insurtech combining the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and an approach founded on behavioural economics and customer centricity to offer homeowners and renters protection with a difference.
