In the race of adopting #voice #technology in banking Capital One is certainly taking the lead (with not too many competitors on the horizon, to be fair). Microsoft unveiled the #Cortana Skill Kit, a set of tools, which will allow developers to leverage Microsoft bots and create new Cortana implementations, atRead More
Bank Innovation
It’s almost time to wave goodbye to 2016. This was a big year for #fintech, with new regulations, new startups, and new technologies displayed across events like Sibos and Money20/20, making it clear that the progress of fintech can’t really be stopped. But how will it continue? That’s the realRead More
Bank Innovation
#Android Pay is heading to the #islands, but not the ones you may be dreaming of on these dreary December days. Instead, Google’s mobile payments platform has landed in #Ireland and #Japan. The mobile payments platform landed on the Emerald Isle on Dec. 2 and is currently live with twoRead More
Bank Innovation
#Deutsche #Bank AG has hired two new #technology #leaders as the German bank seeks to boost #fintech development.
via Linkedin
Elly Hardwick, the former chief executive of Credit Benchmark, has joined Deutsche Bank’s London office as the new head of innovation, which includes oversight of all Deutsche Bank Labs.
The bank announced plans to open three Deutsche Bank Labs last year in Berlin, Silicon Valley and London. The labs are aimed at helping the organization apply new technologies to enhance its products, services and processes. It will help it innovate and deepening its relationships with #tech startups.
Hardwick will also work with fintech startups and the firm&8217;s business units to drive new technology adoption, the bank said in a statement last week.
Philip Milne, who previously was the CEO and founder of a Silicon Valley virtual reality startup, joined Deutsche Bank&8217;s Palo Alto office in November as chief technology officer for innovation. Milne has been acting as “an interface between the Deutsche Bank Labs and the bank&8217;s wider technology organization.”
Both Hardwick and Milne will report to JP Rangaswami, the chief data offer and head of strategy and innovation for the bank&8217;s chief operating office.
Deutsche Bank has been facing a number of headwinds and its increased focus on fintech is intended to help it shore up its capital position and stabilize its share price, according to the Wall Street Journal. The firm said earlier this month that it plans to cut roughly 3,400 trading clients a part of a broader restructuring designed to cut costs and restore long-term stability.
The Deutsche Bank Labs are part of the bank&8217;s Strategy 2020 under which it plans to spend up to EUR 1 billion on digital initiatives over a period of five years.
Deutsche Bank Digital Factory in Frankfurt, Germany, via DB.com
Alongside the labs, Deutsche Bank has also opened a Digital Factory in Frankfurt where it focuses on developing digital banking products. Around 400 software developers, IT specialists and financial experts from 14 nations were working together in the space as of September 2016. The bank plans to increase headcount to 800 by 2018.
In October, Deutsche Bank partnered with Misys for a five-year enterprise license agreement to deploy Misys FusionBanking Lending and Misys FusionCapital solutions across the business.
Misys’ FusionBanking Lending offering includes the Loan IQ back office platform for syndicated lending and the front-end that originates from Custom Credit Systems, a US-based provider of commercial loan software which Misys acquired in 2014.
The FusionCapital solutions include a number of treasury and capital markets systems acquired by Misys over the years: Opics, Summit, Kondor and Sophis’ Risque.
In September, Deutsche Bank teamed up with startup accelerator Axel Springer Plug and Play in Berlin to back banking and insurtech startups with cash and other support.
Upon completion of the program, which runs during 100 days, Deutsche Bank could decide to invest and partner with the companies. Investment would range between EUR 100,000 and EUR 500,000. The bank seeks to back and partner with roughly six companies by the end of 2017, according to the Financial News.
Matthaeus Sielecki, head of working capital advisory, financial technology, at Deutsche Bank, said in a recent interview that #banks and fintech startups must learn to co-operate to align strengths while addressing shortcomings.
&8220;In a highly regulated market such as financial services, neither type of organization can innovate and scale on its own,&8221; Sielecki said. &8220;Together, they can find the best ways of serving business customers in the digital age – by combining cutting-edge creativity with proven processes and infrastructure.&8221;
The statements echoed an extensive report released earlier this year in which Deutsche Bank calls for more collaboration between financial institutions and the startup community to leverage their respective strengths.
Featured image: Deutsche Bank Twin Towers, Frankfurt, Germany, via Wikimedia.
The post Deutsche Bank Names Two New Tech Leaders In Fintech Push appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
Financial #technology solutions provider D+H has launched Barometer today, a software-as-a-service assessment and training solution for lenders, in partnership with the Royal Bank of Canada, which is one of the largest financial institutions in the country. Both companies are based in Toronto. “Barometer is a #lending #simulation, the first of itsRead More
Bank Innovation
This autumn the Pitts Circus #movie announced to produce the #very #first #Ethereum #financed movie for #cinema, TV and VOD in 2017. The film which is going to be presented on film festivals and cinemas in 2018 will bring a long term benefit to the Ethereum ecosystem and will bring in new people into the crypto currency space.
The movie corporation who collected Ether from Ethereum investors trough a smart contract recently announced lots of B2B cooperations, sponsoring and product placement deals, which will support the production process of the first Ethereum based Independent movie.
While the first scenes are going to be shoot from the end of January 2017 in West-Australia the Pitts Circus team used the last month to coordinate some important business deals to make the movie look and feel like a crypto-related film. While the Pitts Circus Family (a popular artist family from Australia) will head the cast the movie production the production team around Tony Caradonna signed with Matto Kämpf and Carlos Henriquez movie actors who already have years of TV & film experience. Mera film, a swiss based digital cinema production company supports the production progress and will help to bring a high-quality movie in 2018 to film festivals followed by international cinemas all around the world.
The Ethereum based project closed some important business deals in the last time. In the last month the team closed several sponsoring and product placement deals. Ledger Wallet, will come up with a new version of their cold wallet soon. The hardware wallet, which will also support smart contracts will be part of the movie. Also Trezor Wallet confirmed to support the first Ethereum founded movie in terms of sponsoring and product placement. The Pitts Circus movie recently also received financial support from bilinguisme.ch
The movie production announced to feature Ether Card products in their film. Customized Pitts Circus Ethereum gift cards are available to give away shares of the movies venture as a present. While the team works on more B2B deals inside the crypto space they also brought other companies to the scene who are going to sponsor the crypto related film.
The Giant Squid Audio Lab Company, who produces high fidelity microphones will spons o r the mov i e and many mo r e cooperations are on negotiations. Moreover the project signed the experienced sound engineer Rainer Jesky from Berlin.
First results of production will be shown on the COVAL/ VOCAL podcast early next year. The movie will also include a COVAL placement (Circuits of Value #cryptocurrency). It will be the first movie which shows the innovative use case of storing and sending cryptocurrency inside a MP3 file or ordinary usbsticks. The movie soundtrack is in progress but independent musicians will be able to upload their music on the aurovine platform (Audiocoin cooperation) and the audience will decide which music will be part of the film.
In sum the Swiss movie production was able to collect financial resources, equipment and human labour time of more than 80,000 USD. Parts of it come from donations during the summer, followed by their first sold smart contracts (Ether investment) as well from closed business deals with sponsors and partners. There will be some more deals signed in the next weeks. Currently the project also announced a partnerships with other companies e.g. Mycolab or Aardvark Film Emporium.
Tony Caradonna producer of the Pitts Circus movie also announced, that there will be an Ethereum Movie Venture coin in future. This coin will be used to give out the yearly movies (ETH) dividends, while the investment can be traded on exchanges. One reason for this action was the wish of many investors to make the investment able to trade on a short-term basis. Moreover, the Ethereum Movie Venture coin will be used to produce more independent film project and eventually provide a ethereum based VOD solution.
Right now the the team is exited to see so much progress and support all over the world and would like to thank all partners and the international community members who are supporting the production process. In that way the Pitts Circus movie also cherish the work of Jose Antonio Leon Rojas, Ludwig Amadeus Moncrieff and the team of Social Husky international who support the project from Venezuela, who will produce merchandise material for film festivals.
The post The Very First Ethereum Financed Movie For Cinema appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
Confused about how much of your paycheck to stash in your #savings account? The three-to-six months-worth of expenses rule may not be the most optimal solution anymore. So, mobile-first #Moven came up with its own solution to provide customers with a personalized savings #path. The new feature, Moven Smart Savings account,Read More
Bank Innovation
During this week’s #Smart #Contracts Symposium in NYC, 250 attendees—including members of the #blockchain-trading group the Chamber of Digital Commerce—listened as the potential benefits of the #technology were laid out, from securing property titles, to gold ownership. Symposium speakers, presenters, and panelists demonstrated and debated all of the possible useRead More
Bank Innovation
It is this time of #year again where most of us willingly and willfully make fools out of ourselves trying to predict the future of our industry. The momentous electoral events we have witnessed and those coming up in #2017 remind me that, even more so for the next 12 months, #macro #risks will rule and influence the state of financial services and #fintech. I will limit myself to comments pertaining to the US and Europe.
I have already attempted to decipher a Trump presidency in a previous post, see here. Suffice it to say there will be winners and losers in the five sectors of the industry – lending, capital markets, asset management, payments and insurance. Regtech may be impacted the most if the US experiences a wave of deregulation. Although I still ascribe to a secular and long term trend towards regulatory harmonization, we may see deviations at the margin, especially within sectors that are more domestic than international by the nature of their activity. I would not be surprised if US domestic lending regulation, compliance and enforcement be loosened while European consumer protection remain tight for example. Another area where one may see changes at the margin would be domestic payments. Still, when it comes to such sectors as capital markets, cross border payments, interbanking activities I do not expect much deviation from one jurisdiction to another and certainly no loosening up when it comes to clamping down on illegal activities, fraud. Hence cybersecurity, AML/KYC and reg/compliance thereof should be interested ecosystems with plenty of investment and operational activity. On another regulatory note ,2016 was the year of the FCA with it’s sandbox. The FCA&8217;s initiative was so popular we ended with more than 8 regulators launching their copycat initiatives. I will make three #predictions in the sandbox space for 2017. First, regulatory sandboxes will be renamed &8211; sandbox is just a poor name everybody dislikes. Second, the US and the EU will see their own “sandbox” initiatives launched (where in the EU is a mystery) as hybrid collaborative efforts between regulators, technologists and incumbents. Third, there will be more collaboration at the &8220;sandbox&8221; level between regulators. Be that as it may I also expect the FCA to go from strength to strength given its clear leadership and first mover advantage (same for MAS, the Singapore regulator).
I continue to worry about alt-lending or marketplace lending as rising interest rates will benefit #banks first and while there is some room to increase the cost of lending, in a competitive market with regulatory oversight there is a limit to how high the cost of borrowing can go. On the other hand banks cost of capital will not rise as fast as those of alt-lenders. Therefore the next 12 months will prove delicate for this industry. I expect banks flexing their muscles and acquiring some platforms as well as mergers between alt lenders while the weakest competitors close shop. Whether this pattern will evolve in sync across the US and Europe I do not know. It depends on how US, UK and EU yield curves will behave. I certainly expect this pattern to occur in the US. On the other hand, infrastructure spending, if it is on a massive scale in the US, will have a positive impact on lending and fintech lending actors will benefit. One might even see fintech startups funded on the basis of infrastructure services for example.
In the retail asset management sector we have witnessed a wave of consolidation in the US, notably with roboadvisors. Most incumbents have placed their bets and the few remaining independent startups have survived, so far. We have yet to see consolidation in Europe. Arguably, there are fewer roboadvisors in Europe than in the US and most are younger so we might not see full consolidation yet. I would not be surprised if a European incumbent or two makes an acquisition though. I remain interested in roboadvisor models, especially those that will make effective use of ETFs, micro investing or micro saving and build a social layer that enables high engagement. I think there is still space for these types of models. Additionally, there is still much to be done to modernize incumbents and to date few fintech startups with a b2b model have emerged in asset management. Some are due to pop up.
In the payments sector I will go out on a limb and call for the rise of micro payments platforms in 2017, most probably powered by a distributed ledger #technology. Most startups addressing micro payments have failed so far but it is only a matter of time before a startup or an incumbent hits the right note. Given the rise of m2m, p2m transactions with IoT and the continued growth of p2p as well as the explosive growth of other types of activities (esports, different models of media consumption from a la carte to subscription) it is only a matter of time before micro payments make it big. My bet is on both platform plays that provide backbone and infrastructure and front end models. Other than micro payments, I continue to be interested in b2b payments and services to SMEs. We have barely scratched the surface and financial services to SMEs are still antiquated. The prospects of a global trade war will not play well with trade finance and supply chain finance activity though.
As for the #blockchain ecosystem, 2016 was a fascinating year. We now have a pretty good picture of the landscape with up to 10 companies being the potential winners. Most of these winning companies have opted to open sourcing their code, collaborating with standards setting bodies, or working as a consortium with many incumbents. Other than a few financing rounds for some of these leaders, I do not expect much investment activity. Indeed I expect many casualties, acquihires or outright failures for the other weaker competitors. 2017 will be a year of consolidation in the DLT space while the winners go about their deployment business quietly. I expect further standardization efforts to bear their fruit &8211; &8220;yesterday and today&8221; in the capital markets arena, &8220;tomorrow&8221; in the insurance space. Finally I expect the start of the patent wars in the space. Most serious contenders have filed patents &8211; incumbents and startups alike &8211; and it is only a matter of time before some try to enforce these patents. Sooner rather than later is my bet.
In the insurance industry, I expect more of the same, both in terms of level of activity and types of insurtech startups. I also expect emphasis on cyber risk coverage and on climate change given both are top of mind and material risks going forward. Cyber risk coverage is particularly interesting to me, given the rise of IoT and the security risks associated with both hardware and software in the space.
On a more general level, I expect five themes to pick up steam in 2017. First, all the business models we have seen created and funded in fintech over the past 8 years will be revisited with an AI component &8211; be it machine learning, deep learning or other. This is bound to happen as AI is sweeping the business world. If mobile is eating the world, AI is the chef that is orchestrating the menu. Whether in lending, asset management or any other sector, I expect to see much activity in this domain and this includes new fintech startups getting funding, especially in b2b. An inevitable trend towards the cognitive financial services firm. Second, the convergence of software robotics, AI and automation will be applied at scale in what is called robotics process automation for banks and insurance companies alike. This is a pure b2b play for sure and I expect this sector to be a fertile ground investment wise. Third, platforms and ecosystems will continue to take shape as various banks further build their API strategies, their marketplace strategies, or even their bank as a service strategies. Whereas 2016 was the year industry thought leaders spoke about platforms, 2017 will be the creative phase for these types of business models. Some startups are already picking up funding. Expect more over the coming 12 months. One should note that platform business models require standards and interoperability. As such, I expect the beginning of standardization and open source in the field of bank as a platform or bank as a service, in a similar vein to the movement we have seen in the DLT/blockchain space. Fourth, the messaging platforms wars will be in full swing as Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft vie for dominance and expand their respective ecosystems. I expect more financial services incumbents to jump on the bandwagon and more startups to build their own apps. The lure of reaching millions of users &8211; customers and potential customers &8211; is strong. To me AI powered chatbots fall in this fourth category as few will be successful on their own and most will want to align with at least one messaging platform. In as much as PFM startups were not particularly successful and neither were account aggregation models, the messaging platform wars with their myriads of skills or applets or bots (voice or text or voice+text) present both an opportunity and a threat to the financial services industry. The threat is well known and lies with being further disintermediated and removed from the end customer. The opportunity is less obvious. Indeed, most fintech startups focused on retail use cases have failed to make any significant traction because either the service did not generate excitement and engagement (simple aggregation of data or accounts), or was too obtuse (too complex) or was too superficial (giving you options to consider) whereas what works usually hits on at least one of three dimensions: enhance an experience, accelerate a process, simplify a process. You can bet that the bots within the messaging platforms that will win the day will enhance, accelerate and simplify. It is up to fintech startups and incumbents to emulate best of breed as they will coexist within the same ecosystems. Else, fintech AI chatbots will fail to impress much like PFM models did before. I should add that the messaging platform wars will be a wedge for GAFA to further encroach in the payments sector. Fifth, 2017 will be the year of digital identities. By that I mean most of the investment activity will be focused on identity business models. Some may consider this field not part of fintech. They will be wrong. there is no identity without trust and vice versa. Further identity and trust impact and influence payment methods and enable or disable currencies. I view digital identities as the corner stone of the future of financial services industry. I expect the investment pace to pick up in the identity space.
A few random thoughts in closing. Should a Trump presidency usher an era of instability and trade wars, we will undoubtedly encounter currency wars. Should the EU further weaken in 2017, currency turbulences will be exacerbated. Should the renminbi further weaken, capital flows leaving China will accelerate. Thusly, it is not inconceivable that cryptocurrencies will benefit, notably #bitcoin, along with its ecosystem. In this macro case figure, and assuming legal and regulatory house sorted out with the SEC, I expect much activity with Initial Coin Offerings in 2017 (ICO).
Finally, I expect subdued venture investment activity in Europe and the US in aggregate, especially in the first year of a new US administration which is still an unknown for many.
  For 19 years I worked for a company that was and remains the antithesis of #fake #news. From its founding in 1851, Reuters has sought to produce accurate, independent and well-sourced journalism. There have been moments when Reuters fell short of this ambition, and its best editors and journalists have always been conscious that […]
Bank Innovation
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