South Africa to establish a strong foothold in Fintech Sector
The next fintech and blockchain revolution is waiting to happen in South Africa. The country is already home for some of the most innovative startups, and with the new fintech wave catching up, more startups are expected to raise their heads by the end of this year. According to a leading regional startup news platform, most of the innovations in the year 2017 will be focused on mobile payments, digital banking, Bitcoin, SME financing, data analytics, real estate and automation solutions. Incidentally, all these priority areas present an opportunity for the implementation of blockchain technology. The developing world is increasingly moving towards mobile payments. The rise of mobile wallet services […]
Wallet packed with loyalty cards? Solve the problem with Stocard digital wallet
Stocard, a leading mobile wallet app, has announced that it will use recently secured funding to expand its reach in the Australian market and launch a new mobile payment function. While digital wallets have been around in Australia for some time, what makes Stocard’s offering unique to existing mobile wallet apps, is the functionality that allows users to store all their loyalty cards easily in their smartphone, rather than in their wallets. Loyalty programs are becoming increasingly popular for Aussie shoppers, with 50% saying they’d be more likely to spend with a store that offers a loyalty program than with one that doesn’t, according to Nielson’s latest Global Loyalty Sentiment […]
Digital currency exchange Gemini introduces pre-credited bitcoin deposits
Gemini, a New York-based bitcoin exchange being developed by Winklevoss brothers, introduced a new first for digital asset exchanges – zero confirmation pre-credited bitcoin deposits. Due to the increasing bitcoin transaction volume, it is taking much longer for transactions to get mined into a block and then included in the blockchain. The new zero-confirmation pre-credited bitcoin deposits will ease these deposit delays, making it quicker. “Here’s how it works: we’re running every Bitcoin deposit on Gemini through a proprietary analysis to determine how likely it is to get confirmed, even if the network is clogged with other transactions. If your transaction passes our criteria (which may take a few minutes), […]
Switzerland begins consultation on new fintech regulations
During its meeting on 1 February 2017, the Federal Council initiated the consultation on amendments to the Banking Act and Banking Ordinance in the fintech area. The revision should ensure that barriers to market entry for fintech firms are reduced and that the competitiveness of the Swiss financial centre is enhanced. The consultation will last until 8 May 2017. The proposed amendments to the Banking Act (BankA) and Banking Ordinance (BankO) aim to regulate fintech and other firms which provide services outside normal banking business according to their risk potential. A form of deregulation with three supplementary elements is being proposed: First, the exception provided for in the Banking Ordinance […]
The Emergence of Fintech in Indonesia
Financial technology, or more popularly called ‘fintech’, can be defined as a phenomenon in which technology and financial features go hand in hand in altering the traditional financial institution business models and discovering solution alternatives to customers’ financial experience. Like other businesses, fintechs are established to answer consumers’ needs, challenges and wants. In this case, the emergence of financial technology is no exception. There are at least four main challenges surrounding the potential and necessity of fintech in Indonesia. Firstly, the large amount of unbanked population. It is estimated that only 40% of Indonesia’s 250 million population currently have access to banking services. Secondly, the large amount of underserved small […]
Silicon Valley giant grows stake in UK fintech star TransferWise
One of the early backers of Facebook is increasing its stake in TransferWise, a British financial technology pioneer, in a move that will be hailed as a vote of confidence in UK start-ups. Sky News has learnt that Andreessen Horowitz, a prominent name in Silicon Valley, has agreed to buy a chunk of shares held by TransferWise’s initial ‘angel’ investors. Andreessen is said to have agreed to the purchases in recent weeks at a valuation broadly consistent with TransferWise’s last major fundraising in May 2016, according to people close to the situation. Founded by two former Skype employees, TransferWise has grown rapidly since its launch, and now acts as a […]
Peer-to-peer loans hedge fund LendingRobot combines robo-advice with blockchain
Alternative lending investment platform LendingRobot combines robo-advice with blockchain technology to make the fund fully transparent to investors. The investment platform also uses the cloud and offers a dollop of machine learning to enhance returns. The Seattle-based hedge fund will only invest in peer to peer loans: Lending Club, Sofi, Funding Circle and the like, allowing investors exposure to thousands of loans at once across consumer credit, small business loans, and even real estate loans. For investors, the returns in investing in these loans are extremely stable income-generating assets (people tend to pay them back), noted a spokesman. Historical returns on peer lending for investors average around 7%, while returns […]
Jack Ma’s Ant Financial Buys MoneyGram for $880 Million
Ant Financial, the financial technology company controlled by billionaire Jack Ma, stepped up its international expansion by buying U.S. money-transfer service MoneyGram International Inc. The $880 million transaction, Ant’s second U.S. deal, will connect MoneyGram’s network of 2.4 billion bank and mobile accounts with Ant’s customers. Ant, which was once part of Alibaba, is seeking to expand abroad amid increasing competition from Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s Wechat payment system at home. The MoneyGram deal will further that goal, following recent partnerships with Paytm in India and Ascend Money in Thailand. “This gives us a very attractive business that’s already quite engaged with a substantial consumer base in the U.S.,” said Douglas […]
