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 […]
Amazon acquires Indian mobile payment license
In another attempt to secure a firm grasp on the Indian market, Amazon has turned towards mobile wallets for its next venture. The e-commerce behemoth has obtained a license from the Indian Reserve Bank (RBI) for the operation of a prepaid payment instruments (PPI). Amazon Online Distribution Services Pvt. Ltd secured the secured the license towards the end of last month, according to the RBI website. Heading the payments division of Amazon India is former Citibank executive Sriram Jagannathan. The Vice President said about the recent license: “RBI is in the process of finalising the guidelines for PPIs. We look forward to seeing a continuation of low-limit wallet dispensation with […]
Can Hong Kong compete with Singapore as fintech hub?
Singapore is widely held to be Asia’s premier fintech hub, but experts in Hong Kong are confident that the city can catch up. In a recent study by Deloitte, London and Singapore were found to perform highest as fintech hubs, followed by New York and Silicon Valley. Hong Kong was found to be the sixth most competitive jurisdiction for producing fintech companies and solutions. At GTR’s Asia Trade & Supply Chain Finance Conference 2017 in Hong Kong today, however, fintech dominated the conversation, as a whole roster of banks, companies and individuals queued up to sing the Special Administrative Region of China’s virtues as a centre for development. “I think […]
Blockchain startup Factom raises $8 million in extended Series A
Blockchain startup Factom has finished raising just over $8m as part of an extended Series A round. Last October, the firm said that it had raised $4.2m as part of the funding in an effort to raise capital ahead of planned product launches. Taking part in the round, according to AustinInno, include Harvest Equity and Peeli Ventures, along with several as-yet-unnamed local investors. According to public records from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Factom raised approximately $8,027,535 during the round. Previously, the firm – which uses its own blockchain network to verify the the integrity of data – had raised $1.1m in a crowdsale conducted in mid-2015, before going […]
P2P platform hits £50m lending milestone
Peer-to-peer (P2P) platform Lending Works has celebrated providing more than £50m worth of loans since its launch in January 2014. The achievement follows a record-breaking first quarter of 2017, with nearly £5m lent via the platform in March alone. Nick Harding, CEO of Lending Works, said: “It’s incredibly rewarding to have come as far as we have since launching just over three years ago. “It is at times like this that I want to thank our extraordinary team for their hard work and determination. “That said, we prefer to look forward rather than back, and with many exciting and ambitious new initiatives in the pipeline, we expect to breach the […]
PayPal and Google get cozy with new digital wallet partnership
PayPal Holdings Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google deepened their relationship with a new agreement that enables payments through the tap of a phone from PayPal accounts at thousands of new retail locations. The partnership lets PayPal users link their accounts to Android Pay, Google’s digital wallet, on smartphones running most versions of the Android operating system. This makes PayPal a funding option when people use Android Pay in locations including Walgreens Boots Alliance drug stores and Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants. PayPal was added as a payment method for Google’s Play app and digital content store almost three years ago. PayPal CEO Dan Schulman has been busy cutting deals with banks, credit […]
Bitcoin payments cheaper & safer than credit cards: Cointed
Cointed is a rather young, but fast-growing Bitcoin exchange located in Kufstein, Austria. The company was founded in November 2015 by Christopher Rieder and Wolfgang Thaler and during the first year attracted more than 4,000 permanent customers. Cointed currently makes it possible to buy and sell a number of cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether, Monero, and Zcash and convert them to USD, EUR, and GBP. Expanding to Turkey Cointed is operating more than 17 Bitcoin ATM’s around Austria, France and Italy. BATMTwo and BATMThree machines are supplied by General Bytes, one of the leading Bitcoin and Blockchain technology providers. This year Cointed is planning to expand to Turkey. With the suspension […]
