The #asset #management side of #insurance business is a sleeping beauty that hasn’t awoken to the #Fintech drumming. Apart from the regulatory driven involvement due to Solvency II ( covered here) I have not seen any laser focus from Fintechs in the asset management part of insurance businesses. Naturally, lowRead More
Bank Innovation
A survey conducted by Deutsche Bank and FT Remark, the research arm of the #Financial Times, found that a staggering majority (87%) of financial #market #participants are confident that #blockchain #technology will #disrupt the settlement model for securities.
62% believe that the introduction of distributed ledger technology will produce substantial savings ranging from 11% to 25%. Almost half say that it will help the #industry cope with the risk of system failure and market disruption.
“Blockchain may completely change the settlement model for securities processing, creating a utility around securities processing and cash management,” commented David Rhydderch, Deutsche Bank’s head of alternative fund services.
&8220;The entire back end would become a far more efficient, far less costly, more accurate and less risk-prone function. This has an obvious knock-on effect on the cost of service provision. In the administration space, blockchain may not be quite the disruptor. It’s more in the functional utility elements within the securities processing settlement chain. In that context, it may be totally revolutionary.&8221;
Respondents believe that blockchain technology will be widely used within the next three to six years (75%).
The industry is still struggling to figure out how to implement the technology in the current web of legacy infrastructure, the report says, noting that market participants are trying to determine how it can be deployed in a way that works, given ongoing data protection and security concerns.
The document a previous report released earlier this year by Euroclear and Oliver Wyman which praised the merits of blockchain technology in capital markets and highlighted the potential of the technology to provide a new approach to data management and be a solution to many of the efficiencies afflicting capital markets.
The Deutsche Bank report, titled &8220;Powering the flow of global capital: Capital markets investor insights,&8221; highlights the key findings of a survey of 200 market participants to examine what is driving today&8217;s capital market.
The research found that regulation, new technologies and emerging markets are key issues impacting strategic thinking. These three areas have caused the vast majority of respondents to partially or completely reshape their operating models, buying behavior and capital/fund allocations over the past two years.
&8220;These three themes are fundamentally redefining the securities services landscape and the knock-on effects will impact the business models of many capital markets participants,&8221; according to Satvinder Singh, head of global securities services and head of GTB EMEA ex Germany.
Notably, a majority of market participants are convinced of a revival of emerging markets. 54% believe emerging markets will deliver growth rates close to those seen during the 2001-2011 boom, noting that India and South Asia will likely be the most attractive region (88%).
China, Indonesia, Russia and Turkey in particular are ranked highest for their capital market infrastructure. Respondents said that China and India have made the greatest infrastructure improvements during the last five years.
That being said, investing in emerging markets remains risky and some investors are hesitant.
Respondents ranked regulatory hurdles as their greatest or second greatest challenge (62%) when carrying out securities transactions in emerging markets, followed by political interference (53%) and instability as a challenge, and unreliable capital markets infrastructure (40%).
Featured image: Stock market chart by bluebay via Shutterstock.com.
The post 87% of Financial Market Participants Say Blockchain Will Disrupt The Industry appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
A dynamic #fintech system can contribute significantly to the quality of Switzerland’s financial centre and boost its competitiveness. Against this backdrop, the Federal Council called for an easing of the regulatory framework for providers of innovative financial technologies during its meeting on 2 November 2016. This easing should #reduce #barriers to #market #entry for providers in the fintech area and increase legal certainty for the sector overall. The Federal Department of Finance (FDF) was instructed to prepare a corresponding consultation draft.
Digitisation in the financial business is advancing rapidly and has given rise to different business models in the fintech area. Accordingly, the requirements of these players for low barriers to market entry are different. The #Federal #Council is striving for a future-oriented solution which is as comprehensive as possible and is thus recommending an approach with three supplementary elements:
The first element sets a deadline of 60 days for the holding of money in settlement accounts, which is particularly relevant for providers of crowdfunding services. Fundraising for a crowdfunding project can thereby be facilitated. This amendment would not be restricted to fintech companies, and would instead be generally applicable.
The second element is a sandbox (an innovation area). In this area, a provider can accept public funds up to a total value of CHF 1 million. These activities do not have to be authorised and are not monitored by FINMA. This fact must be disclosed, however. The current money laundering provisions are applicable in the case of a sandbox.
The third element is a new fintech licence granted by FINMA. For institutions which are restricted to the deposit-taking business (acceptance of public funds) and thus do not operate in the lending business with maturity transformation, less stringent regulatory requirements should apply than those for classical #banks. Involvement in the depositor protection system is thus not envisaged. The public funds accepted by providers with a fintech licence may not exceed the overall value of CHF 100 million. So long as protection of the individual client is guaranteed by special conditions, FINMA can authorise a higher threshold. For institutions with the new licence, the minimum capital should amount to 5% of the accepted public funds, but no less than CHF 300,000.
The creation of a fintech licence is also pioneering by international standards. The new regulation sets out in concrete terms one of the strategic thrusts of the financial market policy recently adopted by the Federal Council. The Federal Council has instructed the FDF to draw up a consultation draft with the required legislative amendments by the start of 2017. Moreover, the FDF should conduct additional clarifications in cooperation with the interested authorities on reducing further barriers to market entry for fintech #firms, also those outside financial market law (e.g. legal treatment of virtual currencies and assets).
The post Federal Council Wants To Reduce Barriers To Market Entry For Fintech Firms appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
A check on #stock #exchanges before Halloween makes sense. We covered stock exchanges in a two part series in May, with a focus more on #Fintech innovation and naturally, we found #Blockchain parties and concerts all over the planet. These activities continue to spread but today I want to highlightRead More
Bank Innovation
#Walmart and IBM are working together to help bring more transparency to China’s massive #pork industry.
The #chief executive of #Mercuria, one of the world’s largest commodities traders, is bullish on #blockchain.
A #startup headquartered in London is using #blockchain to power a next-generation #stock #market has raised $ 2.6m in new venture funding.
A new study by a #blockchain analytics firm has identified the most popular #dark web markets.
SIX Securities Services, the post-trade infrastructure operator for the #Swiss #financial sector, and Digital Asset Holdings, a developer of #distributed #ledger #technology for the financial #services industry, announced plans to develop a proof of concept that will demonstrate the commercial viability of distributed ledger technology across the Swiss financial #market, with an initial prototype for . The two firms will also develop a roadmap for future opportunities spanning the whole market infrastructure value chain.
SIX #Securities Services recognizes the potential of distributed ledger technology and after a competitive evaluation process has selected #Digital #Asset as the business and technology partner for the design of a solution for the Swiss market. The initial phase of the project will demonstrate the ability to build and incorporate distributed, encrypted, straight through processing tools into existing securities transaction flows, and propose a roadmap for extending this to a production-ready service.
The proof of concept will extend beyond the scope of the prototype, and Digital Asset will develop a product roadmap for future opportunities to include a wide range of applications that demonstrate how current, segregated processes could be streamlined and made more efficient for SIX Securities Services and post-trade ecosystem as a whole.
SIX Securities Services has already made significant strides in exploring distributed ledger technologies and currently has a prototype for Corporate Actions processing on display at Sibos, in Geneva #from 26-29 September, 2016.
According to Thomas Zeeb, Division CEO SIX Securities Services: «Distributed ledger technology and its potential role in post trading is key to our business. We need to understand it, and more importantly, its applicability and future flexibility in order to keep ahead of the game. Partnering with Digital Asset is a way to accelerate our own development plans and leverage their experience in this area.»
«Partnering with SIX brings this cutting edge technology another step closer to commercial reality,” said Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset. “We believe this collaboration will provide exciting opportunities for SIX and its customers while reducing inefficiency, cost and risk in the financial services ecosystem.»
The post Distributed Ledger Technology For Swiss Financial Market From SIX Securities Services &038; Digital Asset appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
Kevin Simback and Josie Lee seeded the list of US companies using #technology in the broad #Digital #Mortgage #Market – MortgageTech. I keep the conversation categorization and add on a few names. 1 – Mortgage Enterprise Solutions – this includes offering lending operating system (LOS) providers, marketing/lead gen/application/underwriting/fulfillment/closing platforms, servicingRead More
Bank Innovation
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