New #York was rocking the #fintech this #week, from Next Money and BBVA Open Talent to Finovate Fall. Tune in to Brett King and company below to hear the fintech insider perspective.
Bank Innovation
In 2015 and #2016, a new breed of challengers have emerged – the digitally focused challengers, such as Atom, Fidor Bank, Monzo and Starling, are continuing to grow with a number of them seeing improvements in profitability.
Image by MaximP, via Shutterstock
According to KPMG, total profits for the challengers increased by £194 million against a drop of £5.6 billion for the UK’s Big Five: HSBC, Barclays Bank, Lloyds Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland and the UK subsidiary of Santander.
These challengers are distinguishing themselves through transparency, superior data analytics, cheaper banking services and simpler business models that provide them a cost advantage.
#Challenger #banks shouldn&8217;t be confused with neo-banks. While neo-banks offer a mobile-first banking experience in partnership with a traditional bank, challenger banks aim at becoming fully-licensed banks, creating new data-driven banking experiences and pricing models.
Today, we take a look at the world&8217;s top ten neo-banks and challenger banks.
Atom Bank is a UK digital challenger bank founded in 2014 by Metro Bank co-founder Anthony Thomson. It received a full license from the Bank of England in June 2015 and launched in full after its regulatory authorization restrictions were lifted in April 2016.
Atom Bank aims at offering mobile personal banking and savings as well as business banking, loans, and mortgages. The startup has raised over US$ 166 million in venture capital from BBVA, Toscafund Asset Management, Anthemis Group, among others.
Founded in 2011 by Brett King, Moven is a neo-bank that partners with CBW Bank on its direct-to-consumer product. Moven provides a mobile first experience platform that connects a bank&8217;s products to the end consumer experience.
Moven&8217;s app comes with a debit card and contactless payment sticker. The app provides real time spending insights that aims at motivating customers to make smarter decisions and save more. The startup has raised over US$ 24 million in funding so far.
WeBank, the online banking affiliate of Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd., is China&8217;s first digital challenger bank launched in early 2015. Its name comes from WeChat, Tencent&8217;s popular instant messaging and social networking app.
WeBank was the first private bank to start operations under a pilot, after the banking regulator granted licenses to six similar institutions in 2014.
Earlier this year, WeBank raised over US$ 450 million in a funding round led by US private equity firm Warburg Pincus, a deal that valued the venture at more than US$ 5 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Launched in June 2015, MYbank is Alibaba and its affiliate firm Ant Financial&8217;s response to Tencent&8217;s WeBank. Similarly, MYbank is a challenger bank that provides an entirely digital banking experience.
MYbank was released two years after Alibaba, China&8217;s e-commerce giant, rolled out a personal wealth fund called Yu&8217;e&8217;bao.
MYbank was the country&8217;s second digital player to receive a banking license.
Simple, initially known as BankSimple, is an American neo-bank founded in 2009 that has partnered with Compass Bank and The Bancorp Bank for banking services.
Simple provides FDIC-insured checking accounts and is part of the STAR network for surcharge-free access to around 55,000 ATMs.
Simple was acquired by BBVA in 2014 for US$ 117 million to accelerate the bank&8217;s “digital banking expansion.”
Founded in 2013, N26, formerly known as Number26, is a German digital challenger bank aimed at revolutionizing the traditional banking industry.
In July 2016, N26 received its German banking license and simultaneously announced the extension of its financial platform as well as the addition of the bank&8217;s first investment product.
The initial N26 Invest product for German customers is offered in cooperation with Frankfurt-based startup vaamo. Customers can use N26 Invest to put their money into portfolios right from the N26 app.
N26 has raised over US$ 50 million in funding so far.
Launched in Munich in 2009, Fidor Bank is a German digital-only challenger bank that develops banking services and solutions for the digital generation. Fidor Bank launched in the UK in September 2015 having applied for a UK banking license in January 2015.
Licensed in Germany, Fidor Bank serves over 120,000 account holders and some 350,000 registered community members.
In 2014, Fidor became one of the first banks to use the Ripple internet-based payment protocol.
The bank was acquired in July 2016 by France&8217;s second largest group for banking and finance, Groupe BPCE for an undisclosed amount.
Headquartered in London, Starling is a licensed mobile-only challenger bank founded by former Allied Irish Banks COO, Anne Boden in 2014.
In July 2016, Starling received its banking license from the Financial Conduct Authority.
Starling focuses on offering a limited selection of services, centering around current accounts. The app, which hasn&8217;t launched yet, will offer alerts for smarter money management and real-time monitoring.
The venture has raised US$ 70 million in funding so far.
Monzo Bank, formerly known as Mondo, was set up in 2015 by Tom Blomfield following his exit from rival challenger Starling.
Monzo is a challenger bank based in the UK that is known for setting the record for &8220;quickest crowdfunding campaign in history&8221; when it raised £1 million in 96 seconds via the Crowdcube investment platform.
Monzo was granted a full banking license &8220;with restrictions&8221; in August.
Founded in 2013, Tandem Bank is known for being the second challenger bank to be granted a banking license in the UK in December 2015.
The company plans to offer digital services including current accounts, credit cards, and loans via its mobile app and website.
Tandem Bank hasn&8217;t launched its app and yet, the company is reportedly valued at £65 million.
The post The World&8217;s Top 10 Neo- and Challenger Banks in 2016 appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
WIRED Magazine has recently published a list of Europe&8217;s 100 Hottest Startups 2016. The list consists various #startups in e-commerce, #finance, AI, App, Mobile, Recruitment, etc. from #hottest cities such as London, Paris, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Barcelona… Out of 100 startups, 13 startups in #Fintech and Finance have made the list.
Property Partner &8211; Property Crowdfunding & Investment
Property Partner combines residential real estate crowdfunding with a secondary exchange upon which investors can trade their holdings. The company allows anyone to invest in an individual property of their choice, with as little or as much they wish, so they can own a share, receive rental income and access capital growth. Property Partner is the trading name of London House Exchange Limited, a company that is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Osper &8211; The Prepaid Debit Card for Kids 8-18
The branchless bank offers debit cards for 8-to 18 years-olds. Children can manage spending with an accompanying smartphone app, and parents can use the app to monitor spending and transfer (or withhold) pocket money. Founded by Alick Varma in 2012, the company is backed by Horizons Ventures and an array of entrepreneurs, including Samir Desai of Funding Circle
Qapital introduces a fun, automated way of saving money for specific goals. The totally free iPhone app is designed to help anyone reach savings targets by setting goals and applying rules to automate the saving. Qapital uses “If This Then That” IFTTT triggers to create a gamified savings system for millennials. Rules can be as simple as rounding up to the nearest dollar on everyday expenses or as interesting as rewarding yourself if you do certain things
BUX &8211; Casual Stock Trading
BUX wants to make everyone a stock trader. Released in 2014, its app combines &8220;virtua-money trading and a community&8221;, according to CEO Nick Bortot. It allows potentials investors to practise with digital currency before they spend real-world fund, with alerts sent when prices start to rapidly drop. Bortot claims the app has 450,000 registered users and is available in the Netherlands, Germany, Austria and the UK. Further European expansion is planned for the 31 people team.
Moni &8211; Banking In Your Pocket
Founded by Basemotion mastermind Antti Pennanen, this fintech startup offer prepaid MasterCards so travellers can pay without charges, and a money-transfer app that allows interest-free loans between friends. Its profile soared in February #2016 when the Finnish immigration service announced it would use to make payments to some of Finland’s 50,000 refugees.
CrowdProcess is a scientific computing company that owns James, an R&D tool used by many #banks to manage risk. James helps risk officers in banks manage risk better, reduce default rates and improve origination practices, using advanced scientific computing capabilities, including machine learning and advanced optimization. The company, founded in 2011 by CEO Pedro Fonseca, Sam Hopkins, and works with hedge funds based in New York and London.
A marketing tool that provides predictive algorithms for online businesses, Insider launched in 2012 and has 90 employees in 5 countries. &8220;There are personalisation tools which allow online businesses to create special content for each users. However, there are manual and integration takes ages,&8221; says co-founder and CEO Hande Cilingir. Insider‘s tools segment audiences automatically, for a monthly fee.
AloTech &8211; A Cloud Company
For companies running a call center operation that are frustrated with the high cost, complexity and difficulty of the conventional systems, AloTech is the web based, pay-as-you-go solution running on Google, which is low cost, fast, easy, scalable and with complete enterprise functionality able to be setup anywhere in the world in 10 minutes.
Parasut &8211; Financial Management Software for SMEs
The bookkeeping cloud platform made our 2015 list and has since doubled its customer base to 2,500. &8220;We signed a partnership agreement with Akbank, one of the largest banks&8221;, says co-founder Sean Yu. &8220;We&8217;ll integrate our application directly to online banking to enable seamless syncing of transaction data, make payments for invoices and payroll in-app, provide invoice factoring, credit and loans and other products in-app.&8221;
iyzico &8211; Virtual POS Service
TPayment platform iyzico has grown significantly since 2014. In 2015, it raised $ 6.2 million and entered the $ 400 billion Iranian market. It has more than 29,000 registered merchants (up from 3,000 in 2014) and has seen a 50% increase in the average number of transactions year on year. &8220;I am aiming to get as many smart and driven people as possible together, who will help us to become the payment champion of the Orient,&8221; says Marketing Manager a da Enen.
FundBox – Fundbox: Overcome Cash Flow Gaps
Fundbox is a #technology company focusing on helping small business owners overcome occasional short-term cash flow gaps. Founded in 2013, the service uses big data analytics, engineering, and predictive modeling to help optimize cash flow for small businesses and freelancers with outstanding invoices. The company already raised $ 112.5 million from investors including Jeff Bezos and Ashton Kutcher.
By giving people the ability to exchange digital cash directly with one another Colu is creating a new way of thinking about money that encourages sustainable and equitable economic growth while supporting local businesses. Colu wants to digitalise ownership of real-world items &8211; from cars to concert tickets &8211; using the #blockchain. Founded in 2014, the company has raised $ 2.5 million in seed funding led by Aleph Venture Capital. It has partnered with Deloitte and is collaborating with Barbados-based startup to introduce a #Bitcoin-based &8220;Caribean dollar&8221;
Kantox: Currency and Risk Management Solutions
Kantox is a foreign exchange service provider, offering SMEs and mid-cap companies a comprehensive solution to their foreign exchange needs, based on transparency, efficiency and value. Their transactions reached $ 1 billion, broke the $ 3 billion barrier in April 2016. It completed an $ 11 million funding round from Partech Venture, IDinvest Partner and Cabiedes & Partners in May2015, and released new software this year which automates FX transactions and payments.
The post 13 Hottest Finance And Fintech Startups in Europe 2016 appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
Image source We looked at the 30 #biggest VC #deals in #Fintech for #2016 (courtesy of CB Insights Pulse of Fintech Report) to see where the #InsurTech #puck is #going to. The answer is blindingly obvious when you #look at the 3 out of 30 that we tagged as primarilyRead More
Bank Innovation
Ep.2: A.I. in Banking, #Fintech Trends and Disruption MakerZone
Hi everyone! Back by popular demand answering more of your Real Life Questions about Innovation in Wealth Management, #FinTech and what I am seeing as future trends scouts in the industry.
Today’s Episode covers:
Please ask your QUESTIONS on Twitter and I’ll be happy to answer them and feature YOU on the next episode 🙂
Also do Subscribe to my channel to get the next Episodes. Happy Hustlin’! Dave @SuperDaveBruno
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#Swisscom has announced the ten startups selected to pitch on August 16, #2016 as part of its #StartUp #Challenge 2016.
Each year, the Swisscom StartUp Challenge, a business accelerator program organized in cooperation with venturelab, rewards five startups that are trying to get their ideas off the ground. These startups get a trip to Silicon Valley for a tailor-made acceleration program, mentoring with Swisscom Venture, investors and business angels, and get evaluated for an investment by Swisscom Ventures.
The ten startups, selected among over 200 applications from ventures tackling IT and telecommunication, #fintech, e-commerce, adtech, big data, Internet of Things, among many other areas, will have to prove themselves in August during a pitch day at the campus of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne.
The five best startups will be selected out of the ten teams and will fly to Silicon Valley in September/October 2016 to continue their journey in the program.
Previous winners of the Swisscom StartUp Challenge include Monetas, CashSentinel, among many others.
This year’s ten selected startups are:
Launched by three former Google employees, Advanon allows SMEs to prefinance their outstanding invoices easily, quickly and transparently.
Based in Zurich, Advanon is the leading invoice financing platform in Switzerland.
Lykke is building a global marketplace for all asset classes and instruments. Powered by #blockchain #technology, the online marketplace offers immediate settlement of transactions and much lower transaction costs.
Qumram provides a solution that allows for every digital interaction (web, social and mobile) to be recorded, providing a digital audit trail for financial services organizations.
Qumram has created a single source of truth, recording indisputable proof of every keystroke, button click or mouse movement.
Xorlab is a cybersecurity company that develops and provides dynamic IT security products and services for businesses.
Xorlab has developed software for the early detection and prevention of client-side attacks, including spear phishing and drive-by infections.
Qipp is a web application that enables property managers and owners to bundle digital services and enhance the relationships between owners, managers and tenants.
The app allows for interaction between all involved parties, allowing for efficiency, value-added services, smart services and community-oriented micro-apps.
Xsensio has developed a wearable that uses biochemical information on the surface of our skin to provide real-time information about our state of health and well-being.
Xsensio is based on nanotechnology that exploits information from proteins, molecules and electrolytes on the skin surface.
Biowatch has developed a vein reading biometric wristwatch that recognizes its wearer from the pattern of their veins and therefore provides clear, secure authentication.
Through bluetooth and NFC, the watch enables users to make online payments, unlock their car, automatically log into their accounts or access buildings.
CatchEye has developed a video conferencing add-on that enhances video chat picture quality on Skype, Hangouts, Vidyo, Zoom and others, and enables participants to make eye contact. CatchEye works with Intel RealSense 3D camera.
Fashwell is a fashion-tech startup that has developed an app that allows users to find and buy fashion products online thanks to an image analysis algorithm based on machine learning. The app identifies fashion items and provides a dynamic linking of these items to online shops.
Fashwell has already raised over US$ 1 million in equity funding.
Nanolive is a new type of technology that enables scientists to conduct 3D microscope-based exploration of living cells without damaging #them.
The 3D Cell Explorer is a high-speed, high resolution and non-invasive tool that can look deep inside biological systems.
Featured image via Swisscom.ch.
The post Swisscom Announces 10 (Fintech) Finalists of StartUp Challenge 2016; 4 of them are Fintechs appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
Finance Magnates speaks with #Fluent‘s co-founder after its recent #fintech event.
FinTech – Finance Magnates | Financial and business news
Some of the shine seems to have come off #fintech innovation in #2016. Startup valuations are dropping; once abundant venture capital is growing scarcer; marketplace lending has gotten bruised — even the self-proclaimed capital of fintech, London, faces an uncertain #future with Brexit. But that doesn’t mean innovation is any less necessary.Read More
Bank Innovation
An astounding 85% of millennials own smartphones what makes them the biggest portion of the population in the US to own smart devices. This is according to a report conducted in 2014 by Nielsen which also showed that about 67% of millennials spend an average of 14.5 hours every day on their smartphones.
Our team at Coupofy conducted a smartphone behavior 2016 research involving over 2,000 U.S. millennials riven into two groups of men and women. This #research was meant to dig deeper into the millennials’ habits regarding their #smartphone usage in different situations in life.
The post Smartphone Behavior Research 2016 In Millennials&8217; Romantic &038; Sex Lives appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
A new #survey estimates that finance companies will invest as much as $ 1bn on #blockchain initiatives related to #capital #markets in #2016.
fintech techcrunch
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