Ireland and Germany will battle for fintech crown post-Brexit: VC founder
Ireland and Germany are poised to step up to fill a void as leader of Europe’s fintech scene once the U.K. leaves the European Union (EU), according to the co-founder of a global venture capital firm backed by The Boston Consulting Group. While it’s difficult to tell exactly what it will be, Brexit, which will mean the U.K. will lose its easy access to Europe’s financial industry, is certainly going to have an impact on the fintech industry, says Raj Ganguly, co-founder and partner at B Capital Group. “It seems like London is going in the direction of a hard Brexit. And with the the passporting rules potentially going away, […]
Nod takes home gold at UK’s first Startup Games in Australasia
UK Department for International Trade awards Australian fintech startup, Nod, winner of Australasia’s first Startup Games in Sydney yesterday. Australian fintech startup Nod has been declared the gold medal winner of the UK Department for International Trade’s (DIT) Startup Games, which was held at The Mint in Sydney yesterday. Nod will travel to London this June, courtesy of sponsor British Airways, to participate in London Tech week and find out how they can scale and grow in the UK. Nod pitched their way to the top against more than 50 other entrepreneurs by engaging with top investors and mentors who “invested” virtual funds in the companies they were most impressed […]
UK & US Fintech Working Group to explore regtech
Innovate Finance, the independent membership association that represents the UK’s global FinTech community, together with its strategic partner Hogan Lovells, is looking at the potentially transformative role that regulatory technology (RegTech) might play in tackling the fragmented US financial environment. The Transatlantic Policy Working Group (TPWG) – a group of FinTech, public policy, financial services and academic stakeholders – set up by Innovate Finance, and formed to help advance policies that foster responsible FinTech innovation, is seeking to publish research on the role of RegTech as a mechanism to address the increasingly complicated US financial regulatory environment. Tighter regulation can improve standards, enhance protection and engender trust and confidence amongst […]
Zopa to move into secured lending
ZOPA is looking to expand into the secured auto finance space, where it sees an opportunity to grow its borrower base. The peer-to-peer lending platform, which usually specialises in unsecured consumer loans, said it sees strong potential in the secured car finance sector as there are healthy levels of demand but typically a poor customer experience. “People are getting poor deals in that area and end up paying significantly higher annual percentage rates (APRs) than they would if they arranged their financing before going into a dealership,” said Amy Miller, Zopa’s chief marketing officer. Consumers looking to borrow money to buy a car tend to sign up to dealer-arranged loans, […]
Everything you need to know about FinTech
The term “Fintech” is an extremely broad term, as the field has exploded as of recent times. And the following infographic was meant to cover the field in a broad sense, there are many topics within Fintech that could each be discussed in much greater detail than we are able to do with the limited time and space we have available, or that you would probably have time for. In short, Fintech stands for “Financial Technology” and it speaks to technology which deals specifically with financial services & financial products. You want to talk about digital cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin & Ether… Fintech. You want to talk about the blockchains that […]
How Luxembourg could cash in on Brexit
Plenty of people have reason to bemoan Britain’s retreat from the European Union. But for others, Brexit could spell opportunity. And perhaps nowhere is that truer than in Luxembourg, with its booming financial center focused on investment funds management services and financial technology, or FinTech, as it’s sometimes called. The Brexit effect may, in fact, have already begun for the tiny Grand Duchy. In January, Japan’s Rakuten Europe Bank launched its trading activities in Luxembourg. Two Chinese banks — China Everbright Bank and the Shanghai Pudong Development Bank — also have plans to set up shop in this nerve center of asset management in the EU. And in October, Britain’s […]
P2P Bitcoin lender Bitbond raises $1.2 million in new funding
Peer-to-peer bitcoin loan market Bitbond has raised $1.2m in new funding. The web platform, which connects lenders and borrowers to facilitate the distribution of loans denominated in bitcoin, received the new funding largely from a group of angel investors, some of whom already have stakes in the startup. The round was led by Şekip Can Gökalp, founder of Mobilike, a Turkey-based mobile ad network formed in 2009, and that was acquired last year. Other investors include Janis Zech and Andreas Bodczek, who founded ad tech startup Fyber, and Alexander Graubner-Müller, co-founder and CEO of Germany-based online lender Kreditech. According to Bitbond representative Chris Grundy, most of the funding will be […]
Plum announces partnership with Ratesetter
Plum, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Facebook chatbot which allows consumers to start saving and investing without any effort, today announces its partnership with RateSetter. Plum’s smart algorithm understands spending patterns and identifies income and bills to create a unique profile for its users. It calculates the amount to save or invest and automatically transfers it to a Plum account to put that money to work. Plum’s partnership with RateSetter means that people who are comfortable putting capital at risk can use the peer-to-peer lending platform to earn a higher rate of interest. The average return earned by RateSetter investors to date is 4.7 per cent. Victor Trokoudes, co-founder at […]
