#PayPal continued steady #growth this quarter, reaching 192 million active users and 30 transactions per user. It also recorded $ 87 billion on 1.5 billion total transactions. Venmo accounted for $ 4.9 billion of that, and mobile accounted for approximately 30% of PayPal’s total transactions. That 192 million, by the way, counts 177Read More
Bank Innovation
As previously reported on #Bank Innovation, #mobile banking is the top area of innovation #banks in which are spending money—and it appears to be working, with Chase and Wells Fargo both reporting accelerated #growth in mobile users last week, and with Bank of #America also reporting #strong growth today on theRead More
Bank Innovation
#Mobile banking active #user #growth accelerated for two of the nation’s largest #banks this quarter. #Wells Fargo, which had a challenging quarter in many other ways, had a particularly strong quarter in growing mobile banking users. JPMorgan #Chase and Wells Fargo & Co. (as well as Citigroup and PNC) reportedRead More
Bank Innovation
The Germany’s burgeoning #fintech industry is quickly emerging as a regional leader with a number of startup gaining international recognition and Berlin becoming a “strong contender for London&8217;s fintech crown,” according to a new report by UK payments startup GoCardless Ltd.
&8220;It&8217;s no secret that Germany took its time to enter the scene, especially with investors erring on the side of caution due to the complex nature of German financial regulations, the #report says.
&8220;But now the gap is finally closing on the UK. As Brexit places London’s ‘EU passport’ in jeopardy – the UK may soon find itself overtaken by Germany in the near future.&8221;
Germany&8217;s fintech universe by city, EY Analysis 2016
With now 250 companies employing approximately 13,000 people, Germany&8217;s fintech industry is growing rapidly.
A report by EY released in March, suggests that the German fintech market is fragmented but has developed three main hubs: Berlin, Rhein-Main-Neckar region and Munich, each standing for a distinct characteristic.
In terms of investment, Germany is lagging behind the UK, with €524 million invested in domestic fintech startups in 2015 compared to €707 million for UK startups.
Ventures focusing on banking and lending alone have attracted a big chunk of Germany&8217;s overall fintech investment, raising €402 million in 2015.
GoCardless ‘What you didn’t know about German FinTech&8217; report
The report notes the involvement of Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal and a prominent figure in the tech industry, in a number of deals. These include participation in funding rounds of Zinspilot, a platform for comparing interest rates, and Hamburg-based consumer loan platform Kreditech.
Traditional #banks and financial institutions have too been involved, with a number of them either acquiring or partnering with startups to add innovative products and services to their portfolios. These include Sparkesse which acquired the majority of shares in payments startup Payone in 2015, as well as Deutsche Bank which has been collaborating with domestic startups such Gini and Fincite.
Gini is a B2B focused financial data analytics startup delivering an API that uses artificial intelligence to enable businesses to automate paperwork, while Fincite is a German #robo-advisor provider.
Deutsche Bank has further announced plans to invest €1 billion in digital banking in the next five years as part of its &8220;Strategy 2020&8221; to boost efficiency, cut down on risky businesses and boost its capital base, as reported by Handelsblatt in March.
One of the UK&8217;s competitive advantages over Germany is the supportiveness and openness of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) related to the UK&8217;s ambition to become the fintech capital of the world. &8220;A major component of that policy includes tax incentives to encourage seed investments, along with government programs to support innovation,&8221; the report says.
This has helped foster a flourishing fintech startup community with widely renowned ventures such as TransferWise, Funding Circle and Monese.
Germany&8217;s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), on the other hand, is deemed &8220;more complex and more conservative towards the development of fintech.&8221;
&8220;The BaFin is still far behind on implementing policies similar to the FCA&8217;s,&8221; it says.
&8220;For many German FinTech startups, acquiring a banking license from the BaFin is considered a path to profitability as it enables establishment of faster processes. But it also requires startups to implement strict controls and supervision for fraudulent activity. The application process can be long, complex and costly for recently founded startups, which discourages venture capitalists from making major investments in the industry.&8221;
In light of the regulatory hurdles, banks have been trying to bridge the gap through investment funds, while players such as &8220;fintech company builder&8221; FinLeap have introduced products and services to help startups with financial regulations.
For instance, FinLeap&8217;s SolarisBank is a fully licensed digital bank focusing on powering e-commerce businesses and fintech startups with modular, API-accessible financial services.
While some local fintech startups have to rely on partnerships with existing financial institutions to help them grow, others such as N26, formerly known as Number26, have been awarded a full German banking license.
Berlin-based N26 is a digital challenger bank that allows users to open an online banking account from their smartphone &8220;in under 8 minutes.&8221; N28 provides customers with a free MasterCard payment card, as well as the ability to send money abroad in 19 different currencies.
N26 is currently available to customers residing in Germany, Austria, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Slovakia.
Another challenger bank that holds a German banking license is Fidor Bank (Fidor Group), which was acquired by France&8217;s Groupe BPCE in July 2016.
&8220;There&8217;s already lots of activity in the German FinTech scene and some of the established players mentioned earlier have already laid the groundwork,&8221; the report says.
It concludes:
&8220;There is massive potential for Germany to rival, and perhaps even take over from, the UK when it comes to fintech. The UK leaving the EU may also pave the way for Germany to take that lead sooner than expected, with the UK’s so called ‘EU-passport’ in jeopardy.&8221;
The post New Report Highlights Germany&8217;s Fintech Industry&8217;s &8216;Impressive Growth&8217; appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
It’s hip to be #Square — a Square #seller, that is. Square’s Q2 earnings report was released last week, with the company’s results and changes in corporate strategy setting the #fintech community abuzz with chatter and speculation. One of the main focuses for analysts and company enthusiasts was seller volume, particularRead More
Bank Innovation
I am a big proponent of #crowdfunding. Unfortunately, equity crowdfunding is still experiencing the growing pains of a nascent industry. That does not mean the promise of crowdfunding as a better, more efficient means of #capital formation remains unfulfilled. I am yet hopeful the future is bright, particularly when itRead More
Bank Innovation
What I heard at the Swiss International Finance Forum Last week I attended the Swiss International Finance Forum organized by NZZ konferenzen and with a theme “#Back to #growth”. Sergio Ermotti, CEO of UBS reminded the audience that all the &8220;Regulations that are killing us&8221; (us the regulated #banks) have succeeded in reducing the systemic…Read more Back to growth #despite the triple-witching in #banking & with a AAA #regulatory #recipe
Bank Innovation
#Fortune, one of the most prestigious American business magazines, was founded by Henry Luce in 1929. The #magazine is published globally by Time Inc. Fortune covers the entire field of business, including specific companies and business trends, tech innovation prominent business leaders, and new ideas shaping the global marketplace. Fortune is best known for its exceptionally reliable annual rankings of companies. Fortune furthers understanding of the economy, provides implementable business strategy, and gives you the practical knowledge you need to maximize your own success.
In the latest issue of Fortune magazine, know how to make a profit in the new Hollywood. The article reveals that hit sequels like Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens helped push Hollywood’s global box office to a record $ 38 billion in 2015. But the industry faces troubling trends: It’s struggling to produce human-scale movies that break the action-sequel mold — and when it does make them, they often don’t make money. Studio heads know they eventually need to lead in digital or risk losing out to another screen-based center of gravity, the one in Silicon Valley.
Also, get to know about the billionaire behind Walgreens’ quest for global dominance. Stefano Pessina took control of the drugstore chain using its own money. Now he’s squaring off with CVS. Can a brilliant dealmaker become a killer retailer? Read the article in this issue of Fortune to know more.
The cover story ‘Silicon Valley’s $ 585 Billion Problem’ reveals that VCs have pumped up the value of the “unicorn” startups. Now tech IPOs are in trouble. Of all the Silicon Valley IPOs in the past couple of years, Lending Club’s might have been the surest bet of all. The San Francisco peer-to-peer lender is a star in the world of “#fintech,” a growing sector made up of #financial #technology companies bent on disrupting the traditional banking sector. Lending Club’s stock peaked about a week after its IPO, at nearly $ 26 a share, and has been retreating ever since. Time and time again during the current IPO cycle, Wall Street underwriters–egged on by ambitious CEOs, hungry venture capitalists, and favored institutional investors–have hyped one technology IPO after another. The bankers price the offerings for perfection, watch them soar on the first day of trading to deliver the coveted first-day spike, and don’t stick around to offer an explanation after the shares plunge below the first-day price.
Fortune digital magazine is available on all digital newsstands like Apple, Magzter, Google, Amazon, etc. Digital magazines have gained immense popularity as people have migrated towards smart devices for all their needs. Digital magazines can be read on iPad, iPhone, Android devices devices and on the web. Fortune digital magazine’s annual subscription is available at a huge discounted price on digital newsstands like Magzter.
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