Fintech’s coming to trounce India’s Banks
In the match for India’s financial services future, fintech just scored twice while banks are still struggling to retrieve the ball they scuffed into their own net. It’s just the start of what looks like a bruising battle for traditional lenders. India’s banks, which still dominate the country’s financial landscape, appear to have hardly a kick left in them. Stressed assets without any loan-loss cover now exceed $96 billion, McKinsey & Co. said last week. An overwhelming 91 percent, or $87 billion, of the provisioning gap is at state-run lenders, whose net worth would be wiped out if they took the hit on their capital. Capital Punishment Fully providing for […]
Lendy hits £300m investment mark
The slowdown in bank lending prompted by the Brexit vote has helped Lendy hit the £300m investment mark in April, having channelled £50m to property borrowers in the last 100 days alone. With new loans on the peer-to-peer platform often up to five times oversubscribed, the firm was able to add three larger-size loans over the last three months, it told Peer2Peer Finance News. It directed £7.5m to the purchase and redevelopment of a commercial building in Marylebone, £5.7m to the development of a major residential building on Liverpool’s waterfront and £2.4m to the development of a major student accommodation complex in Huddersfield. The firm said it was able to […]
MarketInvoice secures £45m from Banco BNI Europa
UK-based MarketInvoice has signed an agreement with Banco BNI Europa (BNI), which will now provide £45 million annually to fund working capital for SMEs on the platform. MarketInvoice is now the world’s largest peer-to-peer online invoice finance marketplace, having funded over 70,000 invoices worth more than £1.2 billion since its launch in 2011. Today, the UK business has signed an agreement with Banco BNI Europa (BNI), which will now provide £45 million in funding annually on the marketplace to fund working capital for MarketInvoice customers. BNI trialled an investment last year of £28.3 million, which went into funding SMEs on the platform seeking invoice finance. After the success of that […]
Mobile wallets to disrupt UAE payments sector
Get ready for it. The use of mobile wallets as a means of payment will perhaps be the biggest disruption the financial sector in the UAE has ever seen. But old habits die hard. According to UAE Central Bank figures, about 75 per cent of transactions in the country are made in cash. In fact, the UAE has about Dh65.4 billion in cash circulating outside the banking system. “That represents about 7 per cent of the economy,” says Maki Vekinis, CEO of Emirates Digital Wallet, a unique platform established by 16 of the UAE’s leading banks, formally launched at the Seamless Middle East conference in Dubai earlier this month. Developed […]
Humaniq to use blockchain for social good
A London/Luxembourg start-up is planning to use the blockchain to create a new kind of bank that will help tackle global poverty. It will enable people to use its cryptocurrency to donate or lend money, and bring banking services and income generation opportunities to “the last billion”. Humaniq has been developed by a group of people, many with experience in cryptocurrencies, who have seen the potential of biometrics, blockchain and mobile to help solve a number of social and economic problems. The challenge they aim to tackle is considerable. “Over 2 billion people in the world don’t have bank accounts. About 1.5 billion people don’t have any identification documents. They […]
Interest in FinTech services highest among younger tech savvy users
The financial services industry has, since the financial crisis, found itself operating in a rapidly evolving environment, as regulatory requirements, customer expectations, new technologies and new FinTech entrants create a perfect storm of change. A new report finds that uptake of FinTech propositions differs considerably between generations and other groups, and that trust in the industry remains problematic. The financial services industry continues to face uncertainties from various fronts. Following the financial crisis, regulatory efforts aimed at limiting future risk and creating stability in the industry brought about a range of new regulatory frameworks, which are currently being implemented. At the same time, a raft of changes have begun to […]
Barclays is building Europe’s biggest fintech workspace in London
Next week banking giant Barclays will cut the ribbon on what it’s calling Europe’s largest co-working space dedicated to financial technology. More than 40 companies will be housed across the vast 30,000 sq ft of workspace, spread over seven floors, with four balconies and two mezzanines. The site is already being called a clear sign of London’s continued dominance in the financial technology sector, despite the dark cloud of Brexit over the capital. This newly refurbished Shoreditch block will soon become the new home of Barclay’s Rise in London. Rise is Barclays’ ‘fintech’ innovation arm which includes workspaces. The bank runs seven Rise workspaces around the world, in cities like […]
ABN AMRO Clearing selects Cognizant as strategic partner to cloud-enable global IT infrastructure
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) today announced that it has been selected by ABN AMRO Clearing (AACB), a leading global clearing firm, as its strategic partner to cloud-enable its global IT infrastructure and lay the foundation for digital transformation. This will enable AACB to increase operational resilience and application availability, enhance speed and agility in managing market volatility, and lower capital investment and operating costs. As part of the multi-year agreement, Cognizant will transform the IT operating model across AACB business services, including the core trading and reporting systems, as well as modernise the existing technology infrastructure across Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific regions. In addition, Cognizant will provide hybrid cloud, […]
