Fintech could be bigger than ATMs, PayPal, and Bitcoin combined
We’ve entered the most profound era of change for financial services companies since the 1970s brought us index mutual funds, discount brokers and ATMs. No firm is immune from the coming disruption and every company must have a strategy to harness the powerful advantages of the new financial technology (“fintech”) revolution. The battle already underway will create surprising winners and stunned losers among some of the most powerful names in the financial world: The most contentious conflicts (and partnerships) will be between startups that are completely reengineering decades-old practices, traditional power players who are furiously trying to adapt with their own innovations, and total disruption of established technology & processes: […]
Banks to develop new digital cash unit for settlement
Four of the world’s biggest banks have teamed up to develop a new form of digital cash they believe will become an industry standard to clear and settle financial trades using blockchain, the technology underpinning bitcoin. UBS, the Swiss bank, pioneered the “utility settlement coin” and has now joined forces with Deutsche Bank, Santander and BNY Mellon – as well as the broker ICAP – to pitch the idea to central banks, aiming for its commercial launch by early 2018. The move is the first example of a group of leading banks coming together to co-operate on a specific blockchain technology to harness the power of decentralised computer networks and […]
Which fintech innovations are really adding value to customers?
Financial services, of all sectors, has seen some of the most significant technology innovations in recent years. Banks and insurance companies have been very keen to leverage technology in such a way that is mutually beneficial to both vendor and consumer, and now even superannuation is getting involved in the technology revolution. While there is a lot of innovation happening for the sake of it, not all of it is useful for the end user. It sounds simple, but what we learned as we developed our automated SMSF solution is a lesson that a lot of other financial services apps seem to forget at times; good design principles that keep […]
Fintech to invest $1b into blockchain this year
Financial and technology firms are expected to invest more than $US1 billion to bring blockchain technology to capital markets in 2016. That’s according to a new survey from Greenwich Associates, where a majority of participants said blockchain has the potential to change markets within the next five years. The 134 interviewees, including executives at banks, exchanges, asset managers and blockchain technology companies, said the main obstacle hindering the technology’s widespread use was a “vested interest” in legacy systems. “The financial sector will continue to put its weight behind blockchain this year,” Richard Johnson, vice president for Greenwich’s Market Structure and Technology group, said in the report. “Blockchain is beginning to […]
Fintech investment surges in Q1 but does that mean the Kodak moment nears for banks?
There was a resurgence of activity in the financial technology (fintech) universe in the first quarter of the year after signs of potential rapid deflation at the end of 2015. According to KPMG’s latest The Pulse of Fintech report, the March quarter saw funding to the fintech sector rebound with total investment in fintech companies hitting US$5.7 billion. Globally, Venture Capital-backed fintech companies drew $US4.9 billion in funding, rising from just $US1.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2015. The report identified larger deals, concentrated in Asia, played a major role in the rebound with 13 $US50 million+ rounds to VC-backed fintech companies, a slight rise from 10 such deals in […]
Banking faces massive disruption by fintech says IBM
A new study argues that as the traditional functions of banks become commoditised, value is moving from transactions to relationships. Unfortunately for banks, they face competition from small start-ups and enormous, cashed-up tech giants inserting themselves directly into the relationship with their customers. IBM’s Institute for Business Value has released a fintech report called “Banking at the Brink”, which identifies the finance industry as sitting square in the centre of a perfect disruptive storm. The Institute calls out three challenges. Banks are still struggling with sluggish profits in the aftermath of the Great Recession. A new type of customer, easily dissatisfied and disillusioned, has ever-growing expectations of engagement and improved […]
Blockchain is here to stay
Blockchain, the technology that underpins Bitcoin, is the talk of the town at the moment. The financial services industry can’t get enough of it. The enthusiasm essentially boils down to the technology’s potential to reduce the financial transaction costs while ensuring robust security. While Bitcoin is unlikely to be make traditional currency extinct, blockchain has provided the impetus needed for new and innovative research into how the slow and often expensive centralised financial transaction systems that dominate banking, so what is this blockchain? Put simply, blockchain is a data structure that can be used to create digital ledgers of transactions shared among a distributed network of participating organisations. Financial institutions […]
Globalisation of FinTech: Are we learning from our neighbours?
Most areas in the fintech space are hotly contested. Anyone watching the fintech space can feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of perspectives that emerge when a new product is launched, an article is written or a tweet is sent. And that is largely because fintech is global. Fintech companies may operate in their own local markets and compete with, or “disrupt”, local banks, but financial technology as a whole is a global dealing. Any discussion of fintech needs to have this perspective. This is not just a matter of having the correct frame of reference for discussion and debate, it ensures we find the right way to […]
