FinTech


Banking Technology July/August 2017 issue out now

Set sail for fintech! The latest edition of our flagship magazine – Banking Technology – is out now, packed with news, analysis and insights, case studies, research and expert commentary.

Just in case you need a reason: why participate in Banking Technology Awards?

This year’s Banking Technology Awards are taking place on 13 December in London and there are plenty of reasons why you and your team should be a part of this prestigious event. Besides having a good chance at winning, entering the Awards also allows you to: Make global headlines in the industry if your entry […]

Fintech funding round-up: 5 July 2017

Aw shucks, even more firms are getting big bucks. Following on from yesterday (4 July), here is another fintech funding round-up. Features Ohpen, MarketInvoice and Huddle Capital. Cloud-based core banking provider Ohpen has secured a €15 million Series B investment round led by private equity firm Amerborgh. The current investment round values Ohpen at €100 […]

Fintech funding round-up: 4 July 2017

There’s no lacking of backing. Our latest fintech funding round-up features Tide, Instarem and IntellectEU. UK-based mobile banking firm Tide, which launched in January, has raised $14 million in its Series A investment round. The round has been led by specialist fintech investor Anthemis, alongside Creandum, the Scandinavian fund that has backed companies including Spotify […]

The Monday mindset: 3 July 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, Banking Technology’s deputy editor Antony Peyton mulls briefly on the world of fintech events. Having attended what feels like every fintech event […]

Compliance Titans: Jeff Ross, Green Dot Corp.

Nearly a decade after jumping from the public to the private sector, Green Dot’s Jeff Ross remains as enthused as ever by the new challenges and complexities he faces every day as compliance head for one of the biggest players in an industry with a constantly shifting regulatory landscape and technology that’s advancing at a breakneck pace.

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: 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.

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 […]

Bank of America signs for Oracle ERP

Bank of America is rolling out Oracle’s cloud-based ERP system and financial applications for its international general ledger and broker-dealer systems.

Verizon jumps on the AI-security bandwagon

Verizon’s venture capitalist arm has started throwing its weight around the security arena, pumping cash into artificial intelligence (AI) start-up SparkCognition.

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?

Money20/20 Europe: PSD2 Creates More Questions than Answers

On June 26, artificial intelligence captured the imagination of some at Money20/20 in Copenhagen. But during the June 27 sessions on the second day, it was like I had stepped back in time to November 2016, reported Deputy Editor Antony Peyton. Last year, at the Payments International conference in London, PSD2 left some in the payments industry confused as to where the risks and opportunities lie.

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 […]

Curve Hits 50-50 Milestones; Consumer Card to Come

Curve and its all-cards-in-one Curve Mastercard and accompanying banking app apparently has struck a chord with small businesses and freelancers. More than 50,000 SMEs have signed up for the London-based startup’s program, which recorded £50 million (US$63.3 million) in user spending since the beta period began last year.

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. […]

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, […]

Fintech funding round-up: 21 June 2017

Some people have got deep pockets, because the funding fun never ends. Our latest round-up features Soldo, Atom Bank, British Business Bank, BlackRock and Scalable Capital. Multi-user spending account, Soldo, has reported a Series A funding round of $11 million, led by Accel and includes participation from Connect Ventures, InReach Ventures, U-Start and R204 Partners. […]

Report: How Banks Can Beat the Fintech Threat

Facing disruption from fintech providers, traditional banks must embrace APIs and the open-source model to avoid losing their place at the center of consumers’ financial lives, a new report warns. Capgemini’s 2017 World Retail Banking Report polled thousands of retail banking customers around the world to gauge how the rise of fintech-based financial services has changed the game when it comes to banking.

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 […]

Executive Profile: One on One with Richard Steggall, Urban FT

Richard Steggall didn’t even set foot in the U.S. until he was approaching 30. So, what prompted the native Aussie by way of London to set up a fintech shop in New York—first as Waspit, then as Urban FT, the SaaS-based digital payments platform he now heads? It was, of course, American optimism.

Instant Payments Set to Displace Cards in Europe, Report Says

More than $809 billion is set to switch to the fledgling instant payments system in Europe by 2027, representing a significant threat to cards, according to a new report from Ovum, a London-based consultancy. Instant, or real-time, payments enable account-to-account bank transfers in seconds instead of days.

Microcred looks ahead with BankBI business intelligence software

Microfinance entity Microcred has chosen BankBI’s business intelligence software applications as part of its move into retail banking. As reported last year, Microcred said it plans to become a fully-fledged retail bank and grow its presence from nine to 17 countries by 2020. It has opted to keep its long-standing technology provider, Temenos, and upgrade […]

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 […]