#Fintech, the marriage of finance and #technology, has been part of the business world for decades. In recent years, the explosion of innovation has brought even more attention to this sector. As a #small business owner, you should keep tabs on the fintech industry. Here’s a few #reasons why it&8217;sRead More
Bank Innovation
Partnerships, funding rounds, startups, acquisitions – robos have had a busy year. More and more companies jumped on the #robo-advising bandwagon this year, while independent companies grew exponentially and snatched big-name partners. While the current #technology allows for a fully automated portfolio management system, we saw a lot of theRead More
Bank Innovation
#Robo-advisors, wealth management algorithms typically offered at low costs and with little human interaction, are gaining stream. Globally, wealth managers were responsible for US$ 74 trillion in assets under management (AUM) in 2014. BI Intelligence predicts that robo-advisors will manage around 10% of total global AUM by 2020. This equates to around US$ 8 trillion in robo-advisors AUM.
Robo-advisors are a class of #financial adviser that provides financial advice or portfolio management online with minimal human interaction. Much of the focus has been on portfolio management and most of these platform use algorithms such as Modern portfolio theory.
Today, popular platforms include US-based Wealthfront and Betterment, UK-based Nutmeg, Australian Stockspot, German Vaamo, among others. In Switzerland we have Truewealth, Glarner KB, Swissquote and some new platforms which are going live soon.
A research conducted by BI Intelligence found that consumers across all classes are receptive to robo-advisors, including the wealthy. 49% of this group would consider investing some of their assets using a robo-#advisor.
With robo-advisory on the rise, the wealth management industry is undergoing significant disruption.
According to Deloitte, robo-advisors hold some distinct advantages and are disrupting the industry in the following ways:
– The lower fees have broadened the market for advice to include the majority chunk of untapped wealth. More mass-market consumers can now afford advice.
&8211; Robo-advisory is more appealing to the new generation of wealth, which seeks more control, who is digitally savvy, and demands greater availability.
&8211; With large wealth management firms investing heavily in big data and advanced analytics, robo-advisory can become even more personalized and specific over time.
&8211; Many wealth management firms have already begun incorporating robo-advice capabilities within their existing advisory offerings to create hybrid models.
&8211; #Technology has lowered barriers to entry for new firms to break into wealth management. This has brought new levels of competition and innovation to the industry.
After the strong growth of the robo-advisory approach in recent years, promoted by numerous startups worldwide as well as a sizeable number of early adopting wealth managers, a new “sub-species” has emerged: the hybrid human-robo advisor.
According to MyPrivateBanking’s report &8220;Hybrid Robos: how combining human and automated wealth advice delivers superior results and gains market share,&8221; these platforms combine computerized recommendations with on-demand advice from a human being.
They use technology to standardize and cut costs on the information-gathering side of the job.
The report found that pure robo-advisors (completely automated without personal service added on) have seen their growth slowing down as the market matures. Notably, Betterment&8217;s growth rate for AUM has remained at the same place it was a year ago.
This is due to clients “starting to realize that what they’re getting from many providers is little more than a passive portfolio that they can easily build on their own without the robo middleman,” the report says.
MyPrivateBanking estimates that hybrid robo-advisors will grow to a size of US$ 3,700 billion assets worldwide by 2020. By 2025, the total market size will further increase to US$ 16,300 billion. This number constitutes just over 10% of the total investable wealth in 2025. By comparison, pure robo-advisors will have a market share of 1.6% of the total global wealth at that stage.
&8220;Hybrid robo solutions are a dynamic and also unstable new phase in the wealth management industry&8217;s transformation,&8221; the report says. &8220;We expect 2016 to be a year of significant developments.&8221;
So far, notable hybrid robo-advisors include Vanguard, Personal Capital, Rebalance IRA and AssetBuilder.
The post The Role Of The New Advisor In The Digital Financial World appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
#Blockchain—possibly the buzziest of buzzwords in #2016. The world saw the rise of new enterprise blockchains, how the #technology might be used to transport gold, to safely move perishable items like pork through a supply chain, and most importantly for those of us in the #fintech trenches, we saw #banks,Read More
Bank Innovation
Luis Carranza, founder of #Fintech Worldwide and organiser of London Blockchain Week discusses #Blockchain and Distributed Ledger #Technology (DLT) in 2017
There’s been a lot of talk about blockchain over the past year. Sometimes I think back to when I opened the first Blockchain Conference back in 2015, and the look of bewilderment on people’s faces as #they tried to get their heads around my chosen focus. ‘Don’t you mean #bitcoin?’ they used to say.
But the distributed ledger technology that was initially overlooked as the underlying tech that facilitated bitcoin transactions soon rose to prominence and is now being discussed at a global level by key players and not just in the financial sector. Investors, developers and entrepreneurs have recognised the versatility of Blockchain and its potential for greater transactional speed, security and simplicity.
As the relationship between countries fragments, blockchain will take a leading role in financial services, notably cross border payments and trade finance, and leading concepts that have been in the making will see the necessary investment that lifts them off the page and into fruition. The planned revisions to PSD2 in 2018 will undoubtedly lead to stronger relationships between #banks and fintech start-ups over the coming year.
Closer to home, the UK government will take centre stage as the driving force behind blockchain development. This year saw Credits awarded the first G-cloud blockchain platform-as-a-service agreement by the government – a major step forward in public sector acceptance of the technology.
Luis Carranza, founder of Fintech Worldwide and organiser of London Blockchain Week discusses Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) in 2017
There’s no doubt more UK government funding will be pumped into blockchain, in a report on the subject, the Government Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Mark Walport, wrote: “distributed ledger technology has the potential to redefine the relationship between government and citizens in terms of data-sharing, transparency and trust,” which accurately sums up the benefits for wider society, from healthcare to pensions.
Something that’s impossible to miss is the wide variety of sectors that blockchain is applicable to. Supply chain transparency and simplicity of asset transfer make it a popular point of focus for industries that rely on provenance, such as the diamond trade. To have an immutable ledger that traces the authenticity of precious materials all the way back to their inception is of obvious benefit and investors will no doubt be pouring money into platforms that confirm attribution and improve logistics.
Systems that cut out the middle men, streamline processes, cut costs and prevent fraud are of natural interest to sectors that count the pennies. With charities, large scale aid and infrastructure projects always see a percentage fall through the cracks. The digitisation of aid will continue as organisations like #UNICEF work on projects (e.g. Donercoin) to increase transparency in global aid.
Additionally, the creative industries, historically underfunded and plagued by complex revenue streams, will look to the support of big names to promote blockchain as a means for ensuring artists are paid fairly and digital content is accurately measured and attributed to the right parties, taking blockchain into the mainstream.
2017 is set to be a year of many uncertainties: Article 50 & Brexit, global markets, Trump… but the one thing that you can be sure about is that fintech will play a big part in helping to overcome some of the bigger obstacles that we face, and London will lead the way, as it always has, with innovation and expertise in developing new technology.
Blockchain Week kicks off with the Hack-The-Block Blockchain Hackathon at Launch 22. Followed by a two day conference at The Grange Tower Bridge Hotel. The first day will focus on Crypto/Bitcoin/Public Blockchain, while the second day will focus on Blockchain/DLT in hybrid and public ledgers. Get 20% Discount With Code: &8220;FTSW&8220;. Register NOW!
The post Diamonds, UNICEF and The Music Industry, What Do They Have In Common? appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
The Commercial #Bank of #Dubai (CBD), announced late in November that it is launching “CBD Now”, Dubai’s #first #digital-only bank. They aim to target millennials and digitally connected customers early in 2017.
Peter Baltussen, CEO of Commercial Bank of Dubai said, “The launch of CBD Now during 2016 UAE’s innovation week is a timely example of how CBD supports the vision of the UAE government to develop innovation and drive client happiness.”
Digital-only Banking allows customers to totally change how they manage their finances. They can now use smart #technology to fulfil all their banking needs. CBD will offer customers a technologically smart, and seamless mobile bank, personalised to enable them to perform all their usual financial services from anywhere via their smartphone. So whether it’s managing your current accounts, savings accounts or credit cards that you need, this new development will serve you well.
This news comes hot on the heels of Emirates NBD’s announcement in June that they would be investing Dh500million (US$ 136million) in digital banking systems. Mindful of the fact that the bank is losing its appeal with Millennials, this move is aimed squarely at younger customers.The bank’s Chief Executive, Mr Shayne Nelson said, “We are making a commitment to the future with our digital transformation plan.”
The move into digital banking, globally, has seen huge benefits for #banks and customers. For customers there is a huge improvement in convenience and speed of service, whereas these systems also make cost savings for the banks. There are approximately 800 million customers now using mobile banking systems worldwide. This number is expected to increase to over 1.9billion by the year 2019, according to a report by the auditing company KPMG.
The UAE has a young and affluent population, which is driving the move to digitisation. According to a recent Google study, its 9.2 million population has the highest penetration of smartphone use in the world, at about 70 per cent. Traditionally here, cash has always been king, with credit cards often shunned by young affluent people. However, the ease of use of digital banking is starting to capture the imagination.
EY GCC Digital Banking Report 2015 found that half the banks they surveyed have budgeted between US$ 5 million and US$ 20 million for digital initiatives. These included automation, channels, customer journeys and new technologies etc. Furthermore they found that many of the larger banks were demonstrably willing to spend even more. Possible even more exciting was the fact that banks saw this as a rebirth, rather than an incremental approach to modernisation. Digital-first, a Sharia-compliant retail bank in Saudi Arabia, more than demonstrated this.
The island kingdom of Bahrain is also moving swiftly to keep up. A number of state bodies including the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) are involved in looking at ways in which to develop its #fintech sector. Areas of interest are: Islamic finance, in which in which Bahrain has strong global standing; crowdfunding; payment services; online wealth management service (#robo-advisors); and #blockchain.
Moving forward, CBD Now Co-founders programme being #launched in the near future involves enabling pioneering customers to provide input into building the bank of their dreams. Murray Sims, General Manager Personal Banking Group at Commercial Bank of Dubai, said, “We believe our customers have a lot of know-how when it comes to banking services. Customers can assist during the piloting phase to influence product development and refinements before rolling out the brand to the public.”
Things are really hotting up in the digital banking sector within the Emirates.
The post First Digital Bank Launched in Dubai appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
#Christmas is coming and if you are a #fintech junky, you might want to ask your friends, boss and relatives for one (or more) of the following fintech #books.
These books, which have all been released in the past six months, cover every aspect of fintech from digital payments, mobile #technology to #blockchain and Big Data.
For books that were released earlier, you can check #this article or have a look on our Fintech Book Page.
by Jeff Reed
Blockchain: Blockchain, Smart Contracts, Investing in Ethereum, FinTech by Jeff Reed combines four of his best-selling books, all covering blockchain technology and fintech. These are:
Blockchain: The Essential Guide to Understanding the Blockchain Revolution
Blockchain is far more than #Bitcoin technology, and even in its infancy, it is taking the world by storm, from major #banks to the U.S. Department of Defense. This book is a comprehensive guide to blockchain, helping you understand what it is and why it matter.
Smart Contracts: The Essential Guide to Using Blockchain Smart Contracts for #Cryptocurrency Exchange
This book explains the fundamentals of Smart Contracts and how they work. The practical uses of Smart Contracts are enumerated in this book and you will also learn how you can make your own Smart Contracts in the Ethereum system. You will also get tips on how you can make your Smart Contacts easy to understand and user-friendly. This book also covers some of the myths surrounding smart contracts and the reasons why they exist.
Investing in Ethereum: The Essential Guide to Profiting from Cryptocurrencies
This book explains the reasons to invest in Ethereum and not just because of the potential ROI, but also the benefits of cryptocurrencies in themselves. The overall risks, obstacles, and major changes in Ethereum will also be addressed. There are over 1,000 cryptocurrencies that currently exist, it’s important to choose wisely and understand everything you can if you’re going to be putting real money into the blockchain.
FinTech: Financial Technology and Modern Finance in the 21st Century
This book will introduce you to the basics of FinTech and equip you with the knowledge to get on the cutting edge of age we live in today. It covers the impact of fintech on the global economy, the payment ecosystem, fintech solutions in the business-to-business sector, fintech and investing, and much more.
by Jacob William
The term “FinTech” is shrouded a mystery, even to more tech-savvy individuals. Since it’s such a new innovation, much about it, as well as where it’s heading is still unknown.
In FinTech: The Beginner&8217;s Guide To Financial Technology, Jacob William explains what FinTech is, why it matters to everyone, future predictions about it, possible dangers, and its origins and history.
This book will give you the information you seek in a digestible and easy-to-follow format. No prior knowledge of technical subjects is necessary because understandable examples are given throughout.
Learning more about something that is so prevalent in our society is undeniably beneficial whether you are a business owner, technology enthusiast, or just a curious layman.
by Richard Hayen
We’re in the middle of the FinTech revolution, and it’s a big one. Everything that we know about the world of finance is changing before us. Innovation is constantly happening. FinTech: The Impact and Influence of Financial Technology on Banking and the Finance Industry is going to help you get up to speed on all of the change that’s happened and the things that are important right now.
This book is going to teach you about several things, including the fintech sector and its impact on traditional banking, on the global economy, and on the world at large.
It will teach you about cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, blockchain technology, #robo-advisors, peer-to-peer lending, crowdfunding, but also about the state of FinTech and where it is heading.
by Oscar Flynt
Blockchain: 4 Manuscripts—Blockchain, Fintech, Investing in Ethereum, and Smart Contracts combines four of Oscar Flynt’s books covering blockchain technology, fintech, Ethereum and smart contracts:
Blockchain: The Ultimate Guide to Understanding the Hidden Economy
Blockchains are changing everything from banking, shopping, peer-to-peer exchange, and our daily lives as a whole. Those who learn blockchain and how to utilize them will have a preemptive jump on their competition. You’ll discover how to use them, their shortcomings, all about smart contracts, and much more.
FinTech: Understanding Financial Technology and its Radical Disruption of Modern Finance
This book covers everything from future trading, online banking, conducting business, daily living, and much more. You’ll discover the exciting opportunities that await in the coming years and how you can capitalize on them.
Investing in Ethereum: The Ultimate Guide to Learning—and Profiting from—Cryptocurrencies
Ethereum is one of the most profitable and promising platforms to trade cryptocurrency on to date. In this book you’ll learn all about this amazing platform, how to trade on it, how set up smart contracts, and how to program the right software to use it.
Smart Contracts: How to use Blockchain Smart Contracts for Cryptocurrency Exchange
Smart contracts are speculated to lower legal disputes, re-structure banking and finance, and change the way people shop and make money forever. This book will teach you how to create them.
by John Waupsh
Community banking can flourish in the face of fintech and global competition with a fresh approach to strategy. Bankruption: How Community Banking Can Survive Fintech offers a survival guide for community banks and credit unions searching for relevance amidst immense global competition and fintech startups.
Author John Waupsh is the Chief Innovation Officer at Kasasa, where he helps spearhead financial product development and implementation across hundreds of institutions.
In this guide, he draws on more than a decade in the industry to #offer clear, practical advice for competing with the megabanks, direct banks, non-banks, and financial technology companies.
by Mark Jobs
FinTech, or financial technology, a financial technology service industry, is defined as “innovation in financial services” by National Digital Research Centre. With $ 138 billion market opportunity in the United States, FinTech has become a hot topic for entrepreneurs, visionaries and investors. However, with it&8217;s rapid growth, little in-depth information can be found regarding to FinTech, especially the relationship between FinTech and wealth management.
Fintech: Financial Technology Beginner Guide CherryTree Style aims at demystifying fintech, providing a comprehensive overview of the industry, the impact of fintech in different sectors, the leading fintech players, among other things.
by Tony Scott
Blockchain: Blueprint to Dissecting The Hidden Economy!- Smart Contracts, Bitcoin and Financial Technology provides informative and easy tips that will let you know everything you need to know about the hidden economy and how to capitalize on this amazing technology.
The book covers blockchain technology, smart contracts, fintech, among many other topics.
It breaks training down into easy-to-understand modules and starts from the very beginning of blockchain, so you can get great results – even as a beginner.
by Tolga Tavlas
Developing a digital banking presence is a daunting task, especially when you consider the financial resources and education needed to achieve telephone, online, mobile, and other digital banking capabilities.
Digital Banking Tips: Practical Ideas for Disruptors! 2nd Edition is a quick and easy read that provides you with tips that are simple to implement, and which will help you through the process.
Even if your company has been offering digital banking services, this book can help you build out that part of your business further by assisting with areas such as identifying users&8217; needs, increase usage, improve systems, multi-channel business needs, among other topics.
by Timothy Short
Blockchain: The Comprehensive Guide to Mastering the Hidden Economy provides you everything you need to know about blockchain technology including how it was created and where it is likely to be headed in the near future.
You will also learn how to tell if a blockchain distributed database can replace your current database as well as how to create one and common mistakes to avoid while doing so.
In this book, you will find:
by David Shrier (Author), Alex Pentland (Editor)
Financial technology innovation has exploded in the popular consciousness, and promises a radical transformation of the global financial services industry. Over US$ 20 billion is expected to be invested in fintech projects in 2016.
MIT Professor Alex Pentland is joined by fintech intrapreneur and educator David Shrier in curating an exploration of several major trends and technologies that are changing the face of financial services.
Co-authors include Deven Sharma, the former President of S&P, and Alex Lipton, the former head of quantitative analytics for Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
From blockchain to artificial intelligence, this series of articles helps the reader grapple with this exciting area of technology innovation.
by Seth Ramsey
Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that was created for bitcoin, but has since found a wide variety of other applications from ecommerce and retail, to securing health care records, to maintaining all kinds of important databases.
Chances are your life has already been impacted by a blockchain database. The influence of blockchain continue to grow exponentially in the coming years, leading some people to call it the greatest technological revolution since the internet.
Blockchain: Quick Start Guide to Understanding Blockchain, the Biggest Revolution in Financial Technology and Beyond Since the Internet provides a quick start to understanding how blockchain technology works. The book explores the opportunities and challenges related to distributed ledgers and what&8217;s to expect in the future for the technology.
by Luke Sutto
Fintech: Financial Technology &8211; 2 Manuscripts &8211; Bitcoin & Blockchain combines two books:
Bitcoin Trading &8211; A Complete Beginner&8217;s Guide
Bіtсоіn Trаdіng: A Beginner’s Guіdе to a Strategic Trading & Invеѕtіng offers іnѕіghtѕ into this vital subject mаttеr rеlаtіng to financial іndереndеnсе. Thіѕ book рrеѕеntѕ an exploration into thе іntrісаtе but profitable wоrld оf Bіtсоіn trаdіng thrоugh аn еxрlісіt аnаlуѕіѕ оf the nіttу-grіttу as wеll аѕ expounding on its mоduѕ operandi ѕо as tо bеttеr еduсаtе trаdеrѕ аnd investors аlіkе оn thе bеѕt роѕѕіblе wауѕ tо mіnіmіzе thеіr rіѕkѕ whіlе аt the same tіmе, rеwаrdѕ аrе bеіng mаxіmіzеd.
Blockchain &8211; A Complete Beginner&8217;s Guide
Bitcoins as a game changer have virtually set people&8217;s imagination into flight. Bitcoins are based on the blockchain technology. Increased exploration of the further uses of blockchain technologies have showed that there is immense promise in blockchain technologies.
The post 12 New Fintech Books To Offer This Christmas appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
In this episode, which aired Dec. 9, host Brett King talks augmented reality and artificial intelligence, and what effect the increased presence of that #technology will have on financial services. King recently attended the SLUSH conference in #Helsinki Finland before migrating to the #Fintech Japan event in #Tokyo. At bothRead More
Bank Innovation
With the world’s largest financial services sector and a booming tech sector, #London is undoubtedly the capital for any #fintech startup in Europe, combining the key ingredients for success: capital, talent, regulatory and government support and demographic diversity.
In 2015, investment in fintech companies around the world rocketed by 106% to US$ 13.8 billion through 653 deals, according to the Pulse of Fintech report by KPMG and CB Insights. London alone accounted for US$ 743.7 million through 50 deals.
Image: Tower Bridge, London, via Pixabay
The strength of London’s policy environment is coming from the supportiveness and accessibility of Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Recent initiatives have allowed businesses to test out financial products and services in a proposed environment that is exempt from standard regulations.
Notably, the FCA launched over the summer the regulatory sandbox, which is designed to foster fintech innovation while remaining under the supervision of the UK&8217;s financial regulator.
In November, the authority unveiled the 18 fintech companies constituting the sandbox&8217;s first batch.
Among the companies selected, Billon, Otonomos, Nivaura, Epiphyte, Govcoin, SETL and BitX are three ventures applying #blockchain #technology to varied areas in financial services.
Billon is an e-money platform based on blockchain technology that facilitates the secure transfer and holding of funds using a mobile app. BitX and Epiphyte provide cross-border money transfer services powered by blockchain technology. Govcoin, a technology provider that has partnered with the Department of Work and Pensions, is exploring the feasibility of making mobile emergency payments using blockchain technology. Otonomos offers a platform that represents private companies’ shares electronically on the blockchain, enabling them to manage shareholdings, conduct bookbuilding online and facilitate transfers. And Nivaura uses automation and blockchain for issuance and lifecycle management of private placement securities.
SETL provides a smart-card enabled retail payment system based on its OpenCSD distributed ledger technology. The company has recently raised US$ 39.5 million from angel investors, according to Bloomberg.
In November, SETL, Deloitte and Metro Bank successfully tested a new contactless payment card that enables retail payments to be processed and settled almost instantly by using blockchain technology. The car is expected to go into commercial product by the end of 2017.
Blockchain ventures are thriving in the UK, thanks to its financial regulator. “London is a financial center for fintech, and regulators get enormous credit for that,” Peter Randall, CEO at SETL, told Bloomberg.
Epiphyte, which moved from San Francisco to London, said the decision was influenced by the FCA&8217;s welcoming approach toward fintech.
According to Edan Yago, CEO of Epiphyte, the FCA has &8220;a better understanding of how to drive innovation than other regulators. Sandbox or no, the regulation in the UK was superior.&8221;
Similarly to Epiphyte, Italian startup Euklid plans to move its headquarters to London, naming the &8220;lighter regulatory environment&8221; and large pool of investors.
Originally founded in July 2015, Euklid&8217;s goal is to create a completely autonomous and transparent investment bank run by artificial intelligence and that does not charge clients management or entry fees of any kind.
The startup selected London&8217;s Level39 as its new center of operations where it will implement its international strategies.
Last month, British state-owned Royal Mint announced a new partnership with Chicago-based CME Group to build a gold bullion trading market using blockchain technology. The platform, set to launch in 2017, will see the Royal Mint issue Royal Mint Gold (RMG), a digital record of ownership for gold stored at a bullion vault storage facility. It intends to disrupt the way traders and investors trade, execute and settle gold, providing greater efficiency, speed and lower operational costs.
London Blockchain Week in January 2017 will dedicate an entire week to blockchain and distributed ledger technology. On January 20, the Blockchain Week will kick off with the Hack-The-Block Blockchain Hackathon which will run until January 22. The challenge will focus on using blockchain technology in practical solutions.
On January 23 and 24, the Blockchain Conference will cover the latest trends and will feature presentations from top industry experts. Topics will include smart contracts, Ethereum and BigchainDB. Blockchain Week will finish on January 25 and 26 with two workshops. (Fintechnews Readers will get 20% Discount with Code &8220;FTSW&8221;)
Featured image via Pixabay.
The post Blockchain In London: An Overview appeared first on Fintech Schweiz Digital Finance News – FintechNewsCH.
PayPal is partnering with financial #technology provider FIS and Citigroup in order to provide better, faster, stronger digital payments to all users involved—financial institutions, payment processors, and banking customers, it was announced today. “It’s great that our clients can now extend this capability to their customers through PayPal,” says DougRead More
Bank Innovation
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