Skinner, who has been writing The Finanser daily blog for more than 10 years and traveling the world learning, consulting and reporting, set out to find the #banks which had made, or were well in the process of becoming, true #digital banks.
Financial Technology
#Author Don Tapscott recently helped kick off the TED Summit in Banff, Alberta with a #talk about #blockchain #technology.
CoinDesk
Finally a very smart #integration of Mobile Payment:
#easyJet has announced that its customers shall from now on be able to use Apple Pay to pay for their tickets in Switzerland via an iOS App.
• #Book and pay for #flights and extras using just your #fingerprint
• One of the first European airlines to introduce #Apple Pay
• It’s quick and convenient
• Secure with Touch ID
Using Apple Pay passengers booking flights through the airline’s app on selected iOS devices (see deatils below) will be able to process their booking in just a matter of seconds thanks to Apple Pay’s secure quick one-touch payment function.
• Phone requirements: easyJet mobile app iOS version 3.7 and above, iOS 9 and above required
• Card types supported: VISA, MasterCard, American Express
• iOS devices supported: iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPhone SE, iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4 and iPad mini 3
• Currencies supported: GBP – British Pounds, EUR – Euro, USD – US Dollars, CHF – Swiss Franc
This allows passengers to select the card of their choice and authorise a secure payment via fingerprint recognition on their device.
“We’re delighted that from today we’re one of the first European airlines to introduce Apple Pay. Gone are the days of scrambling around searching for a bank card to book a flight. Checking out on our app is as easy as selecting Apple Pay and placing your finger on Touch ID. Booking flights or adding extras has never been so easy!” – James Millett, easyJet’s Head of #Digital
Since the launch of easyJet’s iPhone app in 2011 the app has evolved from easy booking and check-in functionality to include features like passport scanning, live flight tracking, mobile boarding passes and Touch ID. It is also complimented by the easyJet Apple Watch app and real-time airport push notifications for go-to-gate and bag reclaim information.
The easyJet app is available for download now from the App Store.
The post easyJet Launches Apple Pay Integration: Book &038; Pay For Flights in CHF With a Digital Fingerprint appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
I have visited quite a few #innovation centres at #banks, accelerators, labs and #FinTech startup offices: from the highest floors of mighty skyscrapers in Manhattan, to the folksiest office spaces in suburban warehouses. Everywhere I met enthusiasm, imagination, desire, hard work and openness to discuss global trends and detect:
There are two major yet antithetic drivers that turn new FinTech ventures into successful businesses (hopefully unicorns): PERSONALISATION and COMMODITISATION.
Yet, as I sat down today at my own kitchen table to write this post, I serendipitously spotted a share by Richard Joye which appeared on The Verge: “How Silicon Valley helps spread the same sterile aesthetic across the world“. Indeed I faltered and thought how true it is!
So do not expect many more insights about innovation, disruption and digital trends in the remaining of this article. We are going to talk a bit about casa, moda and buona tavola in the world of startups! Notwithstanding so much travel, speaking at more than 30 banking and FinTech conferences a year … and living in Germany … I remain Italian, born in Milan … and I have a weak for dolce vita stereotypes: design, fashion and food.
Here three summer recommendations to all my Fintech friends:
1. IDEAS DO NOT COME OUT OF THE FRIDGE
I happened to visit innovation labs at established banking institutions, and walk through rigorously decorated corridors just to feel amazed like Alice in the wonderland by crossing the last door, and find myself in front of super designed kitchens, see people playing table tennis, hear the latest lyrics of Taylor Swift (I know, Millennials account for almost 70% of Spotify clients).
True say, Bill Gates made his first Microsoft steps in a garage, Zuckerberg and fellow roommates in their dormitory kitchen at Hayward University. I also do most of my work as #book author in unusual places, like airplanes, my kitchen, the corner table of the Turkish bar which recently opened at the end of the street where I live. However, watch out! The FinTech world can be self-referential in many regards, and you risk to get trapped into a mechanism of emulation instead of autonomous innovation.
Here is the first recommendation: while it is convenient to work in the kitchen, ideas don’t come out of the IKEA fridge. So be DIFFERENT as much as possible. I don’t mean different from banks (that already comes by working in the kitchen …), I mean different from mainstream FinTech and its social media loudspeakers.
2. DON’T MAKE CLOTHES, DRESS WOMEN.
I find it fascinating to speak at FinTech conferences. The parterre is usually made of 80% FinTech entrepreneurs (wearing some sort of shabby cloths) and 20% bankers (in suits but without ties). While FinTech guys tell their audiences “HEY, I AM THE NEW MILLENNIALS-MINDED BANK“, bankers try to scream loud “HEY, I AM A TECHNOLOGY COMPANY NOW“.
Truth might lay in the middle, but one thing is certain: banks are still troubled banks, and FinTech companies are still fabulous software firms trying to use new technologies to service innovative business models. Since B2C businesses and revolutions are easier dreamt than won, most FinTechs’ future might feature their institutionalisation, as banks’ partners or service providers.
Here is the second recommendation: while it is cool to wear sneakers, a good woman’s wardrobe always features a Chanel. Fashion designer Valentino famously said “I don’t make clothes, I dress women”. So do the same: do not just build a Fintech, conceive a business which comes with genuine products, good pipelines, sound business plans and key partnerships.
If cloths don’t make the Monk,
FinTech attire doesn’t make the Unicorn!
3. DON’T EAT SOCIAL MEDIA JUNK FOOD.
The digital economy makes it truly possible to scale new businesses faster than ever across international borders, however “one man’s meat is another man’s poison“. I am fascinated during my travels and business conversations to learn what can work globally, and what instead makes sense only locally.
Here my third recommendation: copy and paste Silicon valley might not be a good innovation strategy that works everywhere. Luckily enough, you can eat a decent pizza almost everywhere. However, although Starbucks is a fabulous brand, it might work in the US but has not yet successfully landed in Italy. US might be an easier B2C market for #Robo-Advisors than continental Europe, because regulation, banking infrastructure and investors behaviour are not equal across the pond.
Copy and past Silicon Valley might not always
be a good innovation strategy
Elevator’s pitch to executive search companies: should you ask what is the role of a global FinTech though leader, here is what I do …
I sell the finest FinTech Furniture, FinTech Fashion and FinTech Food!
Read more about the topic? Check on Amazon my new book “FinTech Innovation: from Robo-Advisors to Goal Based Investing and Gamification“.
[linkedinbadge URL=”https://www.linkedin.com/in/paolosironipso” connections=”off” mode=”icon” liname=”Paolo Sironi”] is IBM Thought Leader – Wealth Management FinTech Analytics
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