Digital payments startup Stripe, begun back in 2000 by a pair of Irish brothers, has just raised new #funding that values the company at just over $ 9 billion—and incidentally makes its founders the youngest billionaires in Ireland. In all, $ 150 million in new capital was raised. This brings the company’sRead More
Bank Innovation
The #European #Commission’s Start-up and Scale-up Initiative aims to give #Europe&8217;s many innovative entrepreneurs every opportunity to become world leading companies. It pulls together all the possibilities that the EU already offers and adds a new focus on venture capital investment,insolvency law and taxation
There is no lack of innovative ideas and entrepreneurial spirit in Europe. But many new firms don&8217;t make it beyond the critical first few years, or they try their luck in a third country instead of tapping intothe EU&8217;s potential 500 million customer base. The European Commission is determined to change that and help start-ups deliver their full innovation and job creation potential.
Via Pixabay
Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, responsible for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, said: “Today&8217;s local start-ups could become tomorrow&8217;s global success stories. We want to help start-ups stay and grow in Europe. By helping them navigate the – often perceived – regulatory barriers to fully benefiting from the Single Market. By making it easier for them to have a second chance, without being stigmatised if their idea doesn&8217;t succeed the first time around. And by improving access to funding by boosting private venture capital investment.”
Commissioner Elżbieta Bieńkowska, responsible for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, said: “Today start-ups do not fully take advantage of the opportunities of the Single Market. Starting and scaling up a company across Europe has to become simpler. Europe needs to become the first choice place for great business ideas to grow into successful companies. This is about new jobs, innovation and competitiveness for Europe.&8221;
The Initiative brings together a range of existing and new actions to create a more coherent framework to allow start-ups to grow and do business across Europe, in particular:
Improved access to finance: The Commission and the European Investment Bank Group are launching a Pan-European Venture Capital Fund of Funds. The EU will provide cornerstone investments of up to a maximum budget of €400 million and the fund manager(s) must raise at least three times as much from private sources, triggering a minimum of €1.6bn in venture capital funding. It will be managed by one or more professional and experienced fund managers ensuring a real market approach. This complements existing EU funding instruments such as the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), Europe&8217;s programme for small and medium-sized enterprises COSME and the EU&8217;s research and innovation funding programme Horizon 2020.
Second chance for entrepreneurs: The Commission has tabled a legislative proposal on insolvency law. It will allow companies in financial difficulties to restructure early on so as to prevent bankruptcy and avoid laying off staff. It will also make it easier for honest entrepreneurs to benefit from a second chance without being penalised for not succeeding in previous business ventures, as they will be fully discharged of their debt after a maximum period of 3 years.
Simpler tax filings: The Commission is also working on a range of taxation simplifications including the recent proposal for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB), which proposes to support small and innovative companies that want to expand their business across borders. Other initiatives include plans for a simplification of the EU VAT system and broadening the forthcoming guidance on best practice in Member States tax regimes for venture capital.
The Initiative also puts emphasis on helping navigate regulatory requirements, improving innovation support through reforms to Horizon 2020, and fostering ecosystems where start-ups can connect with potential partners such as investors, business partners, universities and research centres. Changes to Horizon 2020 will pave the way towards a European Innovation Council and include using €1.6bn over 2018-2020 to provide bottom-up support for breakthrough innovation projects by start-ups with potential to grow. The Startup Europe network will be reinforced to connect clusters and ecosystems across Europe.
In 2017, the European Commission will put forward proposals for a Single Digital Gateway that provides easy online access to Single Market information, procedures, assistance and advice for citizens and businesses. The Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) provide specific advisory services – through scale-up advisors &8211; for #startups including on funding opportunities, partnering and how to access cross-border public procurement. The Commission will adopt a set of measures to support the use of Intellectual Property Rights by SMEs and take action to support access by start-ups to the €2 trillion European public procurement market.
Over recent years, the European Commission has proposed a number of policies, such as the Capital Markets Union, the Single Market Strategy, and the Digital Single Market to benefit start-ups in Europe. Together with Member States&8217; actions, this has led to the creation of a number of market leaders, such as Spotify, Klarna, Adyen, #Blockchain, Jobandtalent, N26, Algolia, Intercom, Cabify or Deliveroo.
The Initiative addresses three main obstacles to starting up and scaling up in Europe identified in a recent public consultation:
&8211; Access to finance is the biggest problem for entrepreneurs whether starting up or scaling up;
&8211; Complying with regulatory and administrative requirements diverts too much energy from growing the business &8211; particularly cross border;
&8211; Connecting to right business partners, markets and skilled workers, despite the availability of 500 million people European Single Market is still too difficult.
Featured Image: via Pixabay
Original Press-Release here
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Scanning a thumbprint to access your bank account seems completely safe, right? Well, a notorious German hacker names Jan Krisller – a.k.a. Starbug – demonstrated how easy it is to duplicate a fingerprint or even an iris, using a high-res photo. He used Angela Merkel’s photo. Other hacks have foiled fingerprintRead More
Bank Innovation
Banco #Santander has also dropped out of the R3 CEV #Blockchain #Group. This news #follows yesterday’s news that Goldman Sachs, one of the group’s original founders, chose not to renew its membership or invest further in the consortium. #Goldman’s move was potentially motivated by a conflict regarding fundraising terms, accordingRead More
Bank Innovation
Die Wirtschaftsprüfungs- und Beratungsgesellschaft KPMG hat eine Kooperation mit dem Frankfurter #Fintech-Unternehmen Traxpay vereinbart, das eine B2B‐Zahlungs- und Finanzierungsplattform in Kombination mit der #Blockchain-Technologie entwickelt hat. KPMG berät ab sofort Finanzinstitute bei der Implementierung der Traxpay-Software und bei der Anpassung der internen Prozesse. Zudem bietet KPMG Trainings- und Schulungsmassnahmen an und führt für Mandanten Testings durch.
#KPMG #Kooperiert Mit Fintech #Traxpay
Sven Korschinowski
Sven Korschinowski, Partner von KPMG im Bereich Financial Services: „Die neue strategische Zusammenarbeit zwischen KPMG und Traxpay ermöglicht es uns, gemeinsame Lösungen und Dienstleistungen zu entwickeln und bereitzustellen, von denen sowohl Banken als auch deren Geschäftskunden profitieren.“
Markus Rupprecht
Markus Rupprecht, Gründer und CEO der Traxpay AG: „KPMG berät Finanzinstitute und Unternehmen und versteht deshalb die Herausforderungen auf beiden Seiten. Unsere Plattform ist ein gelungenes Beispiel für eine erfolgreiche Kooperation zwischen Fintechs und Banken im Rahmen der Digitalisierungsinitiativen des Firmenkundengeschäftes. Banken können so ihre Kundenbeziehungen stärken und neue Provisionseinnahmen erschließen.”
Traxpay bietet mit einer Cloud-basierten Plattform eine sichere digitale Lösung zur Abwicklung von Finanztransaktionen im B2B-Bereich an. Dazu gehören der automatische Austausch von Rechnungsdaten zwischen den Geschäftspartnern und die treuhänderische Verwaltung der Zahlungsbeträge bis zur Erfüllung der Vertragsbedingungen. Zudem ist eine Zwischenfinanzierung von Außenständen über diese Plattform möglich.
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#London is a bustling metropolis of commerce, thought of as a titan of industry and innovation—no matter what industry is under discussion. However, recent economic concerns, most notably the effects of the Brexit on business sectors including #fintech, have led some to suggest that the city is no longer theRead More
Bank Innovation
The European Commission has set up a special #fintech #task #force to develop strategies to address the potential challenges that fintech poses. The working group will engage outside experts and market participants in order to #propose #policy suggestions in the first half of #2017.
#Technology has the potential to drive efficiency gains and disintermediation of financial services can bring consumer benefits and competitive advantages for agile #banks and startups.
But despite the apparent advantages, fintech also raises questions on the way that finance operations are implemented, supported, secured and regulated. The new Task Force, called the Financial Technology Task Force (FTTF), will focus on determining the right conditions to support innovation while ensuring financial stability and consumer confidence.
“We see technological innovation in finance as a development that we need to encourage and enable,” said Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, responsible for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union.
&8220;It brings huge opportunities for consumers and for industry, both by established players and new fintech firms. Our Task Force will help us make sure that our policy supports the pursuit of these opportunities, while addressing any risks that may emerge. Efficient financial markets need to make the best possible use of the opportunities that technology presents, while also preserving competition and making sure that new operating systems are safe.&8221;
On May 6, 2015, the European Commission adopted the Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy, which aims to &8220;opens up digital opportunities for people and business and enhance Europe’s position as a world leader in the digital economy.&8221;
Image credit: European Commission&8217;s Digital Single Market via https://ec.europa.eu/
&8220;The Digital Single Market strategy aims at laying down an appropriate framework and enabling solutions concerning for instance electronic authentication or cybersecurity,&8221; said Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society Günther H. Oettinger.
&8220;Our ambition is to foster financial innovation while preserving financial stability and protecting consumers and investors. (…😉 Digital innovation is transforming the entire economy and in particular the financial services sector. It disrupts business models and value chains, leads to the emergence of new players and services.&8221;
Identified as the one of the European Commission&8217;s top 10 political priorities, the DSM includes 16 initiatives intended to create new opportunities for startups as well as citizens. The DSM would allow for the free movement of persons, services and capital within the region, enabling individuals and businesses to access and exercise online activities seamlessly.
The DSM is built on three pillars:
Access: better access to digital goods and services across Europe;
Environment: creating the right conditions and a level playing field for digital networks and innovative services to flourish;
Economy and society: maximizing the growth potential of the digital economy.
According to the European Commission, the DSM could create up to €415 billion in additional growth, hundreds of thousands of new jobs and a vibrant knowledge-based society.
FTTF was announced on November 14. The working group is co-chaired by the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA) and the Directorate General for Communications Networks Content and Technology (DG CONNECT). It brings together services responsible for financial regulation and for the Digital Single Market, along with experts in competition and consumer protection policy.
Featured image: Flags in front of the European Commission building in Brussels, via Wikimedia.
The post New EU Fintech Task Force to Propose Policy Measures in 2017 appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
The #identity management startup Civic launched this summer to kill the social security number as a means of authentication — a worthy goal, but its ambitions are much grander. At Money20/20 in October, CEO Vinny Lingham revealed a bit more on how the company plans to solve the enormous andRead More
Bank Innovation
Innovationsführer im Geschäftsreisemarkt führen Sharing Economy und Reisekostenmanagement zusammen
AirPlus International und Airbnb entwickeln derzeit eine integrierte Lösung zum Buchen, Bezahlen und Abrechnen von Geschäftsreisen. Gemeinsam mit dem weltweit grössten Community-Marktplatz #für die Buchung und Vermietung von Unterkünften präsentiert AirPlus International, Experte für Bezahllösungen für das Geschäftsreise-management, im kommenden Jahr ein vollautomatisiertes Tool. Damit haben Geschäftsreisende Zugang zu den besten Bezahl- und Reisemanagementlösungen für über 2,5 Millionen Unterkünfte weltweit.
AirPlus-Kunden können heute bereits mit der virtuellen Kreditkarte A.I.D.A. bei #Airbnb buchen und zahlen. Dazu generieren sie einfach eine virtuelle MasterCard-Kreditkartennummer im AirPlus-Portal oder über ihr Smartphone und verwenden diese für die Zahlung bei Airbnb. Die beiden Unternehmen arbeiten zudem an einem integrierten Bezahlvorgang, der Reisenden die automatische Abrechnung von Airbnb-Buchungen über ein zentrales Firmenkonto ermöglicht. Neben optimaler Transparenz profitieren die Reiseverantwortlichen somit auch von Zusatzinformationen, wie Kostenstelle, Projekt- oder Personalnummer, für ihre Datenanalysen.
„Immer mehr Geschäftsreisende wollen die Flexibilität der Sharing Economy für sich nutzen. Die Travel Manager hingegen benötigen aussagekräftige Daten zu Compliance und Kosten“, so Patrick W. Diemer, Vorsitzender der Geschäftsführung von AirPlus International. „In Kooperation mit Airbnb führen wir flexible Buchungsprozesse, automatisiertes Bezahlen und Abrechnen sowie transparentes Kostenmanagement in einer Lösung zusammen.“
„Wir freuen uns über die Zusammenarbeit mit AirPlus. Für Geschäftsreisende wird es zukünftig noch bequemer, Unterkünfte bei Airbnb zu buchen“, sagt Lex Bayer, Group Head of Business Development, Payments, und Airbnb for Business. „Dank Airbnb for Business müssen Mitarbeiter auf Geschäftsreisen nicht mehr auf die Annehmlichkeiten einer Privatunterkunft verzichten. Die neuen Bezahloptionen, die wir gemeinsam mit AirPlus anbieten, unterstützen Geschäftsreisende und Reisemanager noch besser.“
2016 konnte Airbnb das Geschäftsreisevolumen mehr als verdreifachen, da mehr und mehr Geschäftsreisende die Vorzüge, die Airbnb bietet, entdecken. Mit dem Airbnb for Business Dashboard erhalten Reiseverantwortliche eine Komplettlösung für das Reisedatenmanagement. Es bietet eine vollständige und umfassende Übersicht über die Reisepläne ihrer Mitarbeiter sowie über Belege, Privatunterkünfte für Geschäftsreisende, geschäftsrelevantes Reporting und Optionen zur Einhaltung der Sorgfaltspflicht.
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