Report: US Postal Service Could Create its Own Digital Currency
The US #Postal #Service has released a new #report outlining how it #could adopt #blockchain #technology within its operations.
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FCA, IOSCO and FINRA to regulate FinTech and Blockchain
In the aftermath of the financial crisis 2007-09, financial regulators across the world implemented tighter controls on the majority of sectors within the financial services industry. One of the reasons for their activism may have been the lot criticism regulators have received for often being ineffective when it mattered most.
In any case, the onus lying on regulatory bodies to ensure fairness within financial markets is now greater than ever. And one of the lessons learnt over the last eight years or so, regulators are today more alert to the far-reaching implications of the #FinTech industry.
The booming industry
Investment in the booming sector tripled to over $ 12bn last year and is expected to hit $ 46bn by 2020. Given such explosive growth, the immediate challenge for regulators is how to keep up with the industry’s development and ensure consumer protection is maintained, particularly when many FinTech sectors, such as peer-to-peer lending, operate outside of the traditional regulatory space for financial services. Indeed, this is the view taken by David Wright, secretary general of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (#IOSCO), the global standards setter for the securities sector which brings together the world’s securities regulators.
Wright warned in October that regulators across the world need to quickly become au fait with the FinTech revolution, otherwise it will be too difficult to implement reform on areas such as clearing, settlement and collateral management further down the road, once the floodgates have opened. While praising FinTech’s ability to provide credit to small companies, Wright has urged the need to address the possible risks, adding that the IOSCO needs “to get up to speed very, very quickly”.
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), a non-governmental regulatory body whose mission is to ensure the successful operation of financial markets, has been one of the most pro-active authorities in responding to FinTech growth. Christopher Woolard, the FCA’s director of strategy and competition, recently outlined three major challenges that regulatory bodies need to consider when facing FinTech:
- What do we think about the emergence of ‘#robo-advice’?
- What are the benefits and risks of #blockchain?
- Can #technology help solve some of the problems we face around identifying customers and combatting financial crime in a more frictionless way?
It has also been just over one year since the FCA launched Project Innovate, an initiative designed to effectively engage with FinTech innovators, and as part of the project, the FCA has also created Innovation Hub which more specifically provides support for innovation in financial services. A team of FCA staff guides FinTech start-ups through the process of regulatory authorisation and then provides support for one year after receiving approval. The FCA will also explore how regulation can continue to be adapted to encourage growth without sacrificing consumer protection.
Regulatory Sandbox
Most recently, the FCA has emerged with the idea of a ‘regulatory sandbox’, effectively a controlled ‘playground’ environment where UK start-ups who are currently unauthorised to conduct business within the financial services industry can test their new products without having to apply for a full license. The FCA’s chief executive Martin Wheatley has perhaps best described the UK regulatory approach towards FinTech: “Innovation can benefit consumers; whether by reducing hassle, reducing costs, or improving products. So we want to ensure that regulation unlocks these benefits, rather than blocks them”.
Global regulators also appear to be creating specific institutional initiatives, much like the FCA, to ensure they can work alongside FinTech companies as closely as possible. For example, Malaysia’s Securities Commission launched the Alliance of Fintech Community in September, a project in which the regulator intends to promote the country’s network of FinTech stakeholders, in order to drive growth and innovation. It also seeks to provide regulators with more clarity about the way in which to promote financial innovation responsibly.
The commission’s chairman Ranjit Ajit Singh believes that the regulator “could play a facilitator’s role in a number of ways – be it by assisting businesses in navigating the regulatory environment, sponsoring accelerator programmes or strengthening the venture capital and private equity ecosystem to provide much-needed financing for FinTech entrepreneurs”.
What is Asia regulating?
Asian regulators, similarly, are keen to support the development of FinTech during this crucial growth phase. At the World Capital Markets Symposium in September, which brought together regulators from across the region, many policymakers emphasized that they must strike the right balance between promoting innovation and protecting market participants. Liu Jun, head of the Research Centre at the China Securities Regulatory Commission, believes that the Chinese government is adopting “a so-called laid-back approach in dealing with FinTech companies…allowing market forces to do their decision making process”, and adding that “the authorities watch closely but don’t want to intervene the consumer-facing industry”.
However, the reality is that China’s regulatory authorities have been far from reticent when proposing potential market intermediation. Indeed, the Chinese central bank is currently mulling over whether to impose a cap on online transactions as a way to curb the growth of China’s exploding mobile payments and third-party payments market (which includes notable FinTech firms such as Alibaba).
For Australian regulators, trust and confidence for the investing public appears to be top of their priority list. John Price, commissioner of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), recently asserted that without the trust and confidence promoted by regulatory bodies, ‘investors, consumers and participants in the financial services sector, including FinTech start-ups, are less likely to participate in it”.
Indeed, in much of its literature to date, the ASIC has taken a more risk-averse approach to FinTech innovation than a number of its peers in that it appears to determine potential risks to investors first before proceeding with discussions about collaboration.
On balance, the UK’s FCA appears to be leading the global regulatory discussion on FinTech – undoubtedly due to its status as a hub for both finance and technology, and regardless of the fact that the overwhelming amount of FinTech investment still originates from the US. This means that the position of US regulators on FinTech still carries the most weight from a global perspective. The director of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Richard Cordray has emphasised the need for the legal and regulatory framework to keep up effectively with FinTech “so that all consumers can be well served and remain protected, whether they are opening their wallet or scanning the screen on their smartphone”.
Thomas Curry, the US Comptroller of the Currency (the top regulator for national #banks) has also recommended that policymakers remain alert, noting that some FinTech innovations “signify real points of departures that will require a significant amount of scrutiny to ensure that they can be offered safely and soundly, consistent with applicable laws and regulations, and in a way that ensures adequate consumer protections&8221;.
Conclusion
The cost of regulation and compliance is often one of the biggest hurdles for new FinTech companies to overcome. Therefore, it makes sense that while the industry is in a significant growth phase, the regulatory burden is not so heavy as to unnecessarily choke off innovation. Furthermore, the role the FinTech firms will play in the finance industry, especially in relation to traditional financial institutions, has not yet been ascertained – will they largely be collaborative friends to big banking, or competitive foes? It is probable they will be both; nonetheless, FinTech’s growth has triggered alarm among banks who have voiced concerns that the regulatory playing field is becoming increasingly uneven. Addressing the disparities between the two industries on an international level is likely to be a key area of focus for regulators going forward.
The post FCA, IOSCO and FINRA to regulate FinTech and Blockchain appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
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Dubai Government to Sponsor Upcoming Digital Currency Conference
#Dubai is set to play host to a #conference on #digital currencies months after a #blockchain effort in the country was first unveiled.
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Israel Innovation: Fintech and Cyber Conference and Showcase in Zurich
#Israel #innovation is organizing an event in Switzerland later this month to connect senior representatives of the Swiss financial industry with the Israeli #fintech and #cyber scene.
The Israel Innovation Effect: Fintech and Cyber showcase 2016 (IIE 2016), occurring on May 30 at the UBS Grünenhof #Conference Center in #Zurich, intends to foster new business opportunities and #technology partnerships between players from both country.Organized by the Economic & Trade Department of the Embassy of Israel in Switzerland, in partnership with UBS and Accenture, the event will provide Swiss financial professionals and bankers with the opportunity to have 1:1 meetings with Israeli startups.
15 Israeli innovative companies to present in Zurich
15 companies, that are tackling areas such as #blockchain technology, big data, portfolio management and optimization, will be presenting at the event.
ACID Technologies, a cyber-security company that provides solutions to detect potential threats and risks;
Argoscope Detelix Software Technologies Ltd. develops and provides fraud and embezzlement protection to organizations;
AU10TIX, a digital identification and verification company that provides solutions for ID document authentication and client onboarding for both branch and online platforms;
BondIT, a provider of comprehensive analytics solutions for the fixed-income market;
Checkmarx, a comprehensive Application Security platform used for finding & fixing application layer vulnerabilities during software development as well as blocking attacks in real time.
Finnovest uses mobile devices to enable advisors to generate personalized and suitable investment recommendations to numerous clients simultaneously;
Hermetic helps end users and services providers protect sensitive assets, resist account takeover, and improve user experience;
Kensee, a company that provides a management information system for commercial real estate;
OffLa patented security process is based on a smart risk calculation algorithm, operates inside the wallet during the transaction;
PayKey, a blockchain technology company, enables payments within any social network, including Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Twitter;
SecBi, a tool for security analysts to reduce breach response time and optimize mitigation;
Votiro, a cyber-security company that develops and licenses software solutions for organizations;
Windward, a maritime data and analytics company, bringing unprecedented visibility to the maritime domain;
Wisesec offers a technology to set an abundance of solutions, including integration for cardless ATMs;
YCD Multimedia provides a digital signage playback, distribution and content management platform for informational, educational and commercial messaging
15 fintech and cyber companies presenting at IIE 2016
Areas of focus
Essentially, IIE 2016 will be focused on five particular topics:
- Alternative views on investment management;
- Disintermediation in financial services and industry (peer-to-peer, blockchain use cases, etc);
- Security and authentication technologies including federation with partners;
- Identity protection, controlled sharing/privacy, avatars; and
- Service meshes.
The event will be split into two parts: the morning will be dedicated to keynote presentations on topics such as the Swiss fintech landscape and the blockchain industry; and the afternoon session will be dedicated to 1:1 meetings of 20 minutes each.
Speakers will include;
- Stefan Arn, global head of technology of UBS Wealth Management and UBS Switzerland and Group IT
- George Schmidt, Managing Director of Accenture
- Jonathan S. Rouach, an Israeli blockchain expert
Please note that registration to the event is mandatory and all delegates are invited to schedule the 1:1 meetings in their registration form.
The event is also on Twitter: Follow @IsraelInEffect and the hashtag IIE2016
The post Israel Innovation: Fintech and Cyber Conference and Showcase in Zurich appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
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CFA Swiss Fintech Survey: Swiss Bankers Convinced That Fintech Will Dramatically Impact Financial Industry
#Swiss #bankers are the most #convinced that #fintech will #impact the entire #financial services #industry, naming #robo-advisory and #blockchain #technology as the most impactful innovations, according to a new #survey by CFA Institute.
Released earlier this month, CFA Institute’s ‘Fintech Survey Report 2016&8217; measures the opinions of the organization&8217;s investment professional members to better understand their sentiment towards the emerging fintech scene.According to Christian Dreyer, CFA and CEO of CFA Society Switzerland, the survey results highlight “the fascination and respect that financial experts have for financial technologies.”
&8220;Swiss counterparts are particularly convinced by all things related [to financial technologies],&8221; Dreyer said in a media release.
Findings suggest that among the current innovations in the financial services industry, robo-advisors are expected to have the biggest impact in both short and long-term.
Asset management (55%), banking (16%), and securities (12%) are the three sectors that will be the most affected by automated financial advice tools.
70% of participants consider that mass affluent investors will be positively affected by robo-advisors in the form of reduced costs, improved access to advice, and improved product choices. In Switzerland, this figure rises to 80% of respondents.
That said, respondents also named the biggest risks affiliated with the increase in automated financial advices as technical flaws in the algorithms (46%), mis-selling of financial advice (30%) and privacy and data protection concerns (12%).
While robo-advisors are considered to be the technology that will have the greatest impact on the industry both 1 year and 5 years from now, blockchain technology is considered as the second technology with the greatest potential future opportunity (and risk) in the medium- to long-term.
Clearing and settlement, alternative currencies, and commercial banking are the top three areas that are thought to be under greatest impact of blockchain technology.
Crowdfunding and lending marketplaces on the other hand should have short-term impacts on the financial services industry.
38% of respondents believe that existing crowdfunding and/or peer-to-peer lending marketplaces do not have the right balance between ease of access and investor protection. 53% of them are not sure if such balance is possible.
As a leader in both financial services and innovation, Switzerland has the potential to become a frontrunner in fintech. That said, not all are convinced that the country is putting enough effort to fulfill its potential.
In a report released in February, EY argued that Switzerland is lacking governmental support when compared with the likes of London or Singapore.
In March, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) issued new rulings aimed at reducing obstacles for fintech startups and allowing the industry to flourish.
The circular allows financial intermediaries to onboard clients by means of online and video transmission and is targeted at digital businesses in particular.
Read CFA Institute&8217;s &8216;Fintech Survey Report 2016&8217;: https://www.cfainstitute.org/Survey/fintech_survey.PDF
Featured image: Graphs and charts with stacks of coins, by S.Dashkevych, via Shutterstock.com.
The post CFA Swiss Fintech Survey: Swiss Bankers Convinced That Fintech Will Dramatically Impact Financial Industry appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
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Glimpse of the future Insurance products
On April 6 2016, Daimler has let three of its autonomous trucks loose on the highway to complete a successful trip from Stuttgart to Rotterdam[i].The ripples of such an achievement go beyond reducing congestion, cutting down CO2 levels and accidents caused by human error.[ii]
Combined with cryptocurrencies and #blockchain #technology, a new conceivable scenario will appear in the insurance industry were its products can be delivered based on new features through decentralized autonomous organizations – DAOs. Features that are designed to fit the autonomous economy we are heading for.
The DAO’s system consists of massive public ledgers that are able to communicate and transact with each other in a real-time mode. It will not only save the millions of dollars’ databases cost, but also reduce fraud to minimum. It can be built to attract 3rd party participants like insurance pool admins, sales, claim assessment, etc. and instead of working for an insurance company, members work for a piece of software!
Over the course of time, self-driving trucks will be practical reality with features that aid in lane shifts, parking, speed control, and highest safety rates for its occupants. We can expect accidents to occur due to harsh weather conditions and/or machine malfunctions. Hence the once dangerous and deliberate behaviors of humans such texting, reading, drinking, or even sleeping while driving are no longer be considered as “liability”.
Reducing all accidents and fatalities that arise from human error means fewer claims and that will tear down premium rating structure. DAOs can issue policies covering an autonomous vehicle with first-party coverage, paying for injury to the truck’s occupants or for the damage to the vehicle in case of an accident. Insurance premium can be relative to miles driven, and the “mode of driving” whether it was Autonomous or Manual – where Manual driving incurs much higher premiums. So tailgating a mini cooper carries very high risks that multiplies your premium by a hundreds.
Through algorithms built on top of the blockchain, policy holders have accounts tied to their #bitcoin wallets, in which premiums are deducted automatically in ratio to the miles driven. As long as bitcoins exist in the policyholder’s account, payments will be made and coverage exists. Low balances will be notified via the truck dashboard or any mobile phone, and the policyholder can terminate his policy any time with instant stopping of the open payment channel. The DAO is linked to the GPS systems of each autonomous truck and as soon as ON; they start reporting live data to the blockchain.
Oracles can feed the blockchain with information on miles driven, mode of operation, the make and model of the truck, weather statuses, and other considerable live data, of course including the occupants encrypted medical files and personal info. Accordingly, then a premium is set and its gets paid automatically.
Autonomous trucks are able to continuously monitor roads with a broad range of sensors like visible and infrared light, including ultrasound, with a nearly 360-degree field of view![iii]
The algorithm can gather the logs to determine which parts of the vehicle were damaged, and simultaneously compares price data for all replacement parts, order them from the factory, send a mechanic to the garage, and pay for all costs incurred. Therefore, the policyholder is guaranteed coverage on the truck for full replacement cost.
In addition, Algorithms can also distinguish between the truck movement characteristic in a genuine accident and staged one. If the movement of the truck coincides with previous Manual driving patterns related to fraud, the algorithm will simply deny claim.
High premiums are planned to discourage the engagement of Manual Mode, except in emergencies. So enjoying the thrill of Manual driving, could be felt on designated driving tracks were race truck shows are held. Arena insurance companies provide reduced coverage for Manual operation, as long as the truck is only driven on the track.
As the data transmission enables the DAO to identify the amount of damage to the truck, different information can help in accurately paying body injury claims.
Upon physical harm, the nature of the injury and the cost of the recovery can be reported on the medical blockchain, that also verifies the license of the Doctor who’s attending the injured person. Payments from DAO can be deposited directly into the Doctor’s bitcoin wallet.
We all envision autonomous trucks to operate on major highway corridors, yet insurance policies that fits this industry are key in welcoming them. Autonomous trucks will require Autonomous insurance – best delivered through a decentralized autonomous organization.
[i] http://www.gizmag.com/daimler-connected-autonomous-trucks-challenge/42631/
[ii] http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/policy-implications-autonomous-vehicles
[iii] http://insurancethoughtleadership.com/tag/autonomy/
[linkedinbadge URL=”https://nl.linkedin.com/in/tey-el-rjula-50b59242″ connections=”off” mode=”icon” liname=”Tey El-Rjula”], is corporate trainer on Digital Currencies and Blockchain and this article was originally published on linkedin
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The Alternative Fintech Lexicon
The #Alternative #Fintech Lexicon
– Accelerators: Where startups go to learn. What they learn is anybody’s guess. See Decelerators.
– Alternative Lending: An alternative way to make the same mistakes in lending, over and over again. See Crowdfunding.
– Anonymity: Required when discussing either financial services executives bonuses or the use of offshore centers when optimizing taxes and ownership structures. Not required when users interact with financial services firms. See Privacy.
– AML (Anti Money Laundering): A set of procedures, laws and regulations financial services firms occasionally follow and regulators occasionally enforce. See KYC.
– API (Application Programming Interface): A set of routines and protocols Wizards use to develop magical and frictionless interaction between software applications. Alternatively, an acronym Muggles use when pretending to be wizards.
– API Call: A call muggles make to a private fintech investigator when trying to crack innovation, as in “I think I I am going to make A Private Investigator Call now as this digital innovation thingie is very tricky.”
– Artificial Intelligence (AI): Neither Artificial nor Intelligent. A major vector for future unemployment in the financial services industry.
– Augmented Reality (AR): Where the sex industry and the financial services industry will eventually meet.
– Big Data: Applied to most data analytics projects to produce negative returns.
– #Bitcoin: A Numismatist&8217;s worst nightmare.
– Bitcoin #Blockchain: A group of digital prisoners, chained to one another, and bound to perform menial digital tasks recorded on a digital ledger in return for the promise of a better future life.
&8211; Brick and Mortar: A Financial Services Incumbent&8217;s Alzheimer&8217;s moment.
– Cards: Credit, Debit, Reloadable, Gift. The most profitable scam in the history of the financial services industry.
– Card Not Present / Card Present (CNP/CP): Arcane revenue producing schemes for the payment industry.
– Checking Account: Soon to be yesterday&8217;s money machine.
– Conferences (Fintech): Gathering places where thought leaders pretend to educate, startups pretend to pitch, corporates pretend to care, venture investors pretend to scout for investments. Contrary to popular belief, pizza is not served freely at conferences. See Hackathons.
– Consensus Ledgers: Free range Blockchains. Also, for the accountants in the audience, not a ledger. See Bitcoin Blockchain, Ethereum.
– Consensus Machines: Free range Consensus Ledgers, bred with organic Turing corn.
– Core Systems: The tools with which service providers keep #banks, insurance companies, asset managers hostages.
– Corporate Venture Capital (CVC): The art of pretending superior investing will occur when informed by corporate fiat. Alternatively, the science of Fin over Tech. See Venture Capital (VC).
– Crowdfunding: Applies to either equity or lending. The art of pretending it takes a crowd to finance stuff. See Alternative Lending and Equity Crowdfunding.
– #Cryptocurrency: A currency which adheres or belongs secretly to a party, sect, or other group.
– Customers: The one thing most fintech startups are still looking for. See Traction.
– Decelerators: Where startups go when they move too fast. See Accelerators.
– Digital: Related to the storing of information as either a 0 or a 1. Example of a 0: &8220;Soon we will have zero brick and mortar branches&8221;. Example of a 1: &8220;Banking executives compensation is again approaching 100% increases.&8221;
– Digital Banker/Insurer/Asset Manager: Tomorrow&8217;s endangered species.
– Disintermediation: The act of creating another overlord as in &8220;My API will rule over your API.&8221; See API.
– EMV (EuroPay, MasterCard, Visa): A technical standard built to promote online fraud.
– Entrepreneur: Central protagonist in ancient Greek tragedies or comedies involving the critique of money. Alternatively, a post Marxist practitioner. See Startup.
– Equity Crowdfunding: Platforms that may provide much work for litigation lawyers in the future.
– Ethereum: A public blockchain platform which promises to free digital prisoners shackled to other public blockchains. See Bitcoin Blockchain.
– Ethics: An extraordinary expense that appears below the EBITDA line both in GAAP and IFRS.
– Financial Inclusion: An issue solved by #technology according to blockchain enthusiasts. A profitability issue according to financial services incumbents. A game changer according to social impact investors.
– Fintech: Neither &8220;Fin&8221; nor &8220;Tech&8221;. Modern day alchemical process.
– Fraud: The act of defining loose operations control in order to elicit fraudulent activities which will eventually be billed at cost plus to the end user. In the payments industry, the tradeoff between convenience and privacy.
– Free: A new &8220;source of revenue&8221; paradigm, e.g. free trading, free investing, free payments. To be noted, free fraud is not yet recognized as a new source of revenue.
– Gateway: A purgatory software interface where payments transit before reaching heaven.
– Governance (in Fintech): What often lies beyond the wall.
– Hackathons: Events that bring fintech developers, designers, corporate executives and innovation managers together around pizza. Hackathons organized around the summer solstice are sought-after events, as it is believed pizza tastes better during that period of the year.
– Hash: Non-edible but still intriguing recipe comprising mathematical algorithms that map data of arbitrary size to data of fixed size. Frequently used in the Insurance industry as exemplified by the old saying &8220;The actuary made a hash of the life expectancy of millennials.&8221;
– Incubators: Where corporations are able to smother good fintech ideas to death.
– Innovation: What VCs overpay for. What corporations are seldom capable of delivering. What only a few startups can deliver.
– Insurtech: Ego booster term crafted for the Insurance industry. See Fintech.
– Interchange Fee: Soon to become a land far far away, especially in the US.
– Interest Rate(s): A conceptual think piece for most fintech startups. Baudrillard&8217;s famous tirade comes to mind when addressing the Sorbonne in 1968, &8220;If interest rates were so important we would have used the term FinInt or IntTech, not Fintech.&8221;
– Jinn: Spirit capable of appearing in human or animal form and influencing VC investors, corporations and startups alike via consulting analysis, recommendations, white papers. See White Papers.
– Joy: What fintech startups seldom experience. Referred to in the context of an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
– Know Your Customer (KYC): The process whereby a business weighs the cost of verifying a client&8217;s identity against the profitability of said client. For a fintech startup, that which will be developed and financed when the sooner of a cease and desist letter from a regulator is received or a $ 100 million funding round is closed, maybe. See AML.
– Lead Generation: A poor man&8217;s version of revenue building.
– License(s): Put or Call Options that give a regulator the right but not the obligation to levy fines in the future based on real or perceived violations of the terms of the license granted.
– Menagerie: Pack of Thought Leaders focused on cornering the market for social media power ranking and industry top lists via &8220;elaborate&8221; insider trading techniques. See Thought Leader.
– Millenials: What fintech startups say they focus on and financial services incumbents know they have no clue about. See Customers.
– Mobile Wallet: Darwinian evolution of a checking account. That which will generate revenue, but not necessarily to financial services incumbents.
– Near Prime Credit: A set of customers who are sub prime but for marketing purposes are labelled near prime as copywriting and creativity is important in the lending industry. See Sub Prime.
– Net Interest Rate Margin (NIM): The wet dream bankers and insurers dream every time they sleep.
– Network effect(s): Often talked about, seldom witnessed in the financial services industry.
– Non Performing Loans: According to alternative lenders, crowd lenders, p2p lenders, marketplace lenders, a mathematical impossibility.
– Non Traditional Data Sets: Data sets you would not want your mother to know about, let alone look at.
– Omnibus Account: A money-carrying vehicle, originally horse-drawn. Most bank-operated omnibus accounts are allegedly still operated manually and horse-drawn.
– P2P: A business model that allows people or entities that have nothing in common to do business with one another. From the word &8220;peer&8221; which means &8220;complete stranger&8221;.
– Payday Lending: The act of producing indentured servitude.
– Paying Customer: The rarest of species, seldom observed in the wild by startups.
– Payments: Payments come in two varieties. The &8220;slow&8221; variety which refers to the medical condition whereby financial services incumbents produce revenue via the sloth-like pace of provisioning of payments. The &8220;fast&8221; variety which refers to a simple technology feat which most financial services firms pretend is impossible to achieve.
– Payment Network(s): Money printing machines.
– Personal Financial Management (PFM): Movement originally triggered by the wealth transfer mechanism that occurred between Intuit shareholders (buyers) and Mint shareholders (sellers).
– Platform(s): The shoes many incumbents want to wear.
– Prime Credit: A set of customers lenders desperately would like to lend to but never do as these customers seldom need credit. See Near Prime.
– Privacy: What is enforced after weighing the cost of breach and compliance against executives bonuses as in &8220;We only had to pay $ 10 million fine for the latest data breach&8221;. See Anonymity.
– Proof of Work: An emerging contributor to global warming.
– Quantum Computing: That which will render many things and many people redundant.
– Rails (Payment): Train tracks over which steam locomotives shuffle back and forth wagons chock full of payments.
– RegTech: Because regulators should have their tech too. Alternatively, because why not.
– Regulator(s): Satan and his minions, unless they use technology. See RegTech, White Walkers.
– #Robo Advisors: Not a robot. Not a financial advisor. Fancy term for a digital channel.
– Scaling: The ability to gain traction in unique ways in fintech, e.g. &8220;Startup bankruptcies tend to scale well.&8221;, &8220;NPLs scale with ease in a down credit cycle.&8221;
– Smart Contract: Neither smart, nor a contract. For a blockchain developer, nirvana. For a lawyer, anathema. It is believed that through selected breeding a new specie of lawyer/developers will be created thereby enabling the wide adoption of smart contracts.
– Spice: A highly addictive Melange which fintech celebrities &8211; VCs, entrepreneurs &8211; consume daily and heightens their awareness and prescient abilities. Repeated exposure to &8220;Up&8221; Spice mutates fintech celebrities bodies into virtual social media avatars. Repeated exposure to &8220;Down&8221; Spice is deadly.
– Startup (Fintech): Ancient Greek play. Can either be a tragedy or a comedy. Focused on exploring and expanding upon a post Marxist critique of money. See Entrepreneur.
– Sub Prime: A set of customers that even copywriting cannot disguise and that, with the help of advanced data analytics, will yield positive returns, up to a breaking point. See Big Data.
– Token(s): Reduces fraud, makes EMV obsolete, helps with authentication and authorization of transactions in the payments industry. In other words, a really cool and useful thing which explains why it is so darn difficult to adopt industry wide.
– Traction: The startup science of demonstrating progress in the absence of Customers. See Customers.
– Thought Leader: Rhetorician who occasionally attends conferences for the pizza, not realizing hackathons are where the dough is. See Menagerie, Conferences and Hackathons.
– Uberization: An event that simultaneously holds the lowest probability of occurrence and the highest probability of utterance in fintech.
– Underbanked: A universe of people and businesses that refuse to comply with traditional profitability measures as defined by financial services incumbents.
– Unicorn: Animal hunted for its skin by rational investors. Alternatively, animal bred for its magical properties by irrational investors.
– Valuation: A +/- rounding error. Also, one of the key ingredient of Spice. See Spice.
– Venture Capital: The art of pretending superior investing will occur when informed by market fiat. Alternatively, the science of Tech over Fin. See Corporate Venture Capital (CVC).
– Veteran: Old hand operator with minimum 30 years experience in the financial technology industry and minimum 4 credit or business cycles under his/her belt. There are few veterans in activity. The only credible actors to be equally efficient and effective at either of fintech investing, fintech startup building, fintech innovation. One can recognize a veteran based on his/her use of profane language and colorful views on his contemporaries.
– Wallet: What any participant in the industry wants to &8220;share&8221;, as long as it is not theirs, as in &8220;Our share of the customer wallet is important for our future health.&8221;
– White Papers: Exercise in casuistry.
– White Walkers: Government officials who hold the power to resurrect dead banks but not yet the power to resurrect fintech startups to the dismay of VC investors.
– Xanadu: An idyllic place otherwise known as the Silicon Valley. &8220;In Xanadu did the great VC Khan / A stately pleasure dome decree&8221; is a alternative copycat poem published in the 19th century describing fintech venture investing and venture eco systems.
– Yield: See Interest Rate(s).
– Zelig: Describes the act of mimicking the fintech activities of leaders, as in a &8220;me too&8221; fintech VC or a &8220;me too&8221; startup. For example &8220;This fintech venture fund is so zelig!&8221;
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The New Banking Standard
In this op-ed, #bitcoin enthusiast Martin Hagelstrom touches on the slow but steady embrace of #blockchain by the world’s #banks.
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Blockchain’s Big Innovation is Trust, Not Money
In this opinion piece, a former Wall Street pro discusses why he believes the #blockchain is best perceived as an #innovation in distributed #trust.
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Fintech and Blockchain Education: University Courses and Workshops in Switzerland and Germany
The vibrant #FinTech ecosystem is evolving rapidly and the sector is in increasing need for professionals with skills and knowledge on the new, emerging business models, digital platforms and tools that are gaining popularity.
To educate students and professionals on FinTech, #Switzerland and #Germany have a number of programs available that dive into digitalization in the banking and financial sector, #blockchain #technology, the emerging FinTech startup scene, and many other topics.
Here is a few of them:
Hochschule Luzern: CAS Digital Banking
The Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Digital Banking of Hochschule Luzern is a program aimed at providing students with professional skills and knowledge on the emerging FinTech ecosystem, teach them about the ongoing digitalization of the financial services industry, and the ability to use these new trends to grab new business opportunities.
The program is divided into four main #courses: the environment of digital banking, strategic digital banking, digital customer management and social banking, and FinTech products and solutions.
HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich: CAS Digital Finance
The CAS Digital Finance of the #University of Applied Sciences in Business Administration in Zurich, is a 18-day course targeted at financial services professionals.
The program is divided into four major blocks:
- Digital mindset: innovation management, cultural changes, digitalization as part of the overall strategy, etc.
- Digital products and services: fintech, crowdfunding/lending, peer-to-peer, #robo-advisor, etc.
- Technology: big-data analysis, cyber security, blockchain technology, etc.
- Customer experience: multichannel presence, online/offline strategies, community, social media, etc.
Frankfurt School of Finance and Management
As part of its bachelor’s degree in business administration, the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management is proposing a specialization called “Digital Innovation and FinTech” which focuses on the impact of technology and new business models and services on the banking and financial services industry.
The program will begin in the winter semester of 2016/2017, and as part of the launch of the new specialization, the university has teamed up with FinTech Group, which will support 20 students with their tuition fees. The company will also offer the three year&8217;s best students an employment contract.
Introduction to Blockchains and smart contracts for developers
Zurich-based ValidityLabs is a company that provides blockchain and smart contracts #education through courses and #workshops.On May 21, 2016, ValidityLabs will be hosting a workshop at Zurich&8217;s Technopark,
The workshop will be focused on Ethereum and is aimed at familiarizing developers, software architects and technical decision markets with principles of blockchains and smart contracts.
The workshop will feature a demonstration of a contract deployment and inspection on the Ethereum network.
Source: information and images from the mentioned universities&8217;/organizations&8217; wites
The post Fintech and Blockchain Education: University Courses and Workshops in Switzerland and Germany appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
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