Global fintech regulators promise ‘not to stifle innovation’
Regulators from across the globe have admitted that laws and regulation governing fintech have not moved in sync with technological advancements and steps must be taken to avoid tendencies to “jump in” and “imagine the worst”. Speaking at the ASIC Annual Forum last week on the future of financial regulation, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and member of the Financial Stability Board, Ravi Menon addressed the issue of how regulators must respond to fintech moving forward. “Often when it comes to the risk assessment of fintech there is a tendency to have a fear of the unknown or a tendency to imagine the worst. A degree of […]
The impact of Blockchain on Trade Finance and Cybersecurity
Companies in today’s ‘digital first’ ecosystem are being forced to continuously innovate in order to stay at the forefront and remain competitive in their industry, particularly in the financial services and financial technology space. Blockchain technology is already starting to reinvent the infrastructure for global finance; anything that facilitates the frictionless flow of money. Yet blockchain is frequently associated with fraudulent ponzi schemes and trading scams. Blockchain technology sits on a consensus-driven distributed ledger that facilitates and keeps a record of all historic transactions, without the need of a third party – a concept which could revolutionise global trade, and challenge the existence and purpose of intermediaries such as commercial […]
Skandiabanken makes robo-advisory push with stake in Quantfolio
Norwegian digital bank Skandiabanken has acquired a 39.9% stake in local AI and machine learning outfit Quantfolio as part of a push into the provision of robo advisory services for customers of its private savings division. “We believe the next fintech revolution will take place in the digital savings and asset management market, and we wish to strengthen our position in this market with this move,” says Christoffer Hernæs CDO Skandiabanken. “The acquisition of the shares is the first step towards providing our customers with simple and automated saving advice tailor made for each individual, through a user-friendly robo-advisory service.” Quantfolio operates an algorithmic engine to explore historical market data […]
Fintech deals in South East Asia hit record numbers in 2016
The total number of venture-backed deals to fintech companies in South East Asia (i.e. Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) reached record highs in 2016 according to data released by CB Insights recently. Deals Up, Dollars Down 2016 saw 71 total deals in the region as compared to 55 the previous year, a 29% increase. However, the dollar amount raised fell from $177M in 2015 to $158M in 2016 suggesting the increase in the number of deals was spurred more by smaller early stage funding (e.g. seed and angel rounds). In fact, early stage funding as a percentage of the total number of deals increased from 55% […]
Samsung Pay joins India’s digital-payments movement
As India’s cash issues continue to create incentives for new mobile payment systems, it’s no surprise that Samsung has jumped into the fray with its its Samsung Pay digital wallet. The Apple Pay competitor’s implementation includes support for PayTM and the Unified Payments interface. It has a ton of network financial services partners, though Citibank India is still forthcoming. Samsung Pay will arrive on the Samsung Gear S3 smartwatch shortly, the company added. It currently works on Samsung’s high-end smartphones, though it’s rumored to be coming to the J series in India. Source: Samsung Pay joins India’s digital-payments movement – CNET
eWise and TSWG drive digital banking innovation with new partnership
Leading Australian digital banking FinTech TSWG (The System Works Group), has integrated their Digital Play Platform with eWise Aegis data aggregation technology. The partnership offers banks, mutual banks, credit unions and building societies omni-channel banking solutions, allowing end-users to aggregate all of their financial accounts into a single dashboard. TSWG’s Digital Play Platform (DPP) is a highly configurable and responsively designed online banking solution that enables a financial institution to connect with existing and new customers. Seamlessly integrated with core banking and enterprise systems, as well as third-party systems, Digital Play delivers a comprehensive suite of banking functions. Moving beyond transaction-based, first generation solutions, Digital Play Banking provides new opportunities […]
Coinbase has added margin trading to its bitcoin exchange
GDAX, the cryptocurrency exchange run by Coinbase, has added margin trading to the platform. Eligible traders can now trade up to 3X leveraged orders on Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin order books. If you’re unfamiliar with trading and exchanges, margin trading is when you borrow money from your broker to buy or sell more stock than you can afford. It’s essentially a short-term loan. By buying or selling on margin, traders can increase their leverage and buying power, potentially generating profits beyond what their own cash balance would have supported. This feature is mainly geared toward institutional investors. That’s because Coinbase has launched the feature attempting to fit within the boundaries […]
Goldman Sachs launching robo advice service
Interest in robo advice from financial services giants is ramping up as demand grows for low cost, online and simplified wealth management. In another fintech-powered move towards its non-traditional market Goldman Sachs is looking to develop a robo-advice investment platform aimed at the masses rather than ‘the 1%’. Robo advice is a broad term that encompasses low cost, online investment management mostly utilising passive exchange traded funds (ETFs). While the most well-known names in the robo advice space are independent disruptors to the traditional wealth management market such as Nutmeg and Scalable Capital, large financial services incumbents are also rushing to launch their own propositions. While Goldman Sachs has not […]
