Analysis: regtech in the US – the state we are in
Subas Roy, chairman of the newly launched International Regtech Association (IRTA), provides an insight into the state of regtech in the US and further opportunities.
Innovation
Softbank gets hard for data-powered AI
“Those who rule chips will rule the entire world. Those who rule data will rule the entire world. That’s what people of the future will say.” The words of Softbank’s founder and CEO Masayoshi Son, who was bigging up his company at a presentation in Tokyo and laying down some future plans that artificial intelligence […]
China dreams of AI domination
The Chinese government has set out its bold vision to become a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI) by 2030. In a Cabinet statement, the government sees AI as integral to making China an “economic power” and is calling for the development of skills, research and educational resources to achieve “major breakthroughs” by 2025 and […]
Top fintech stories this week – 21 July 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place!
Data Pitch launches European accelerator
Data Pitch has unleashed its new accelerator in the search for start-ups and SMEs across Europe with fresh ideas for data products and services. The plan is to connect data providers “with nagging business problems” to firms with the right solutions. It’s not limited to fintech, but successful applicants will receive up to €100,000 equity […]
House of Lords launches artificial intelligence inquiry
The UK’s House of Lords wants you to come clean on the rise of the machines – with a call for feedback on the economic, ethical and social implications of artificial intelligence (AI). The House of Lords Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence is asking for contributions to its inquiry and is looking for pragmatic solutions […]
TSB goes dotty for iris scanning tech
The buzz for biometrics gets bigger with TSB now eyeing up the launch of iris scanning tech to let users login into bank accounts by glancing at their phone. According to the BBC, some TSB customers will be able to do this from September when the bank introduces iris recognition to its mobile banking app. […]
Bank of England opens up RTGS service to fintech competition
The Bank of England (BoE) is opening up access to settlement accounts in its real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system with the goal to promote fintech innovation and competition. The bank says it’s extending access to non-bank payment service providers (PSPs), offering direct access to the UK’s sterling payment systems. The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), […]
AI will be ubiquitous in 2020 but overhyped in 2017 – Gartner
Artificial intelligence (AI) will be baked into nearly every new software product and service by 2020, but the rush to claim AI integration today is causing confusion, according to a new report from analyst firm Gartner. Light Reading (Banking Technology’s sister publication) reports that while virtually every company across industry verticals is busy today figuring out […]
Nesta names 20 fintechs fired up for £5m SME innovation fund
UK-based innovation foundation Nesta has revealed the 20 fintech firms who will participate in its Open Up Challenge as it looks for services, apps and tools for SMEs – with a £5 million prize fund on offer. As reported in March, Nesta launched its challenge – open to entries from anywhere in the world that […]
IBM blockchain powers Borsa Italiana’s digital securities scheme
Italy’s only stock exchange Borsa Italiana, part of London Stock Exchange Group, and IBM are building a blockchain solution to digitise the issuance of securities for unlisted small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Europe. The aim is to simplify the tracking and management of shareholding information, and create a distributed shared registry containing a record […]
More human than human: banking’s AI future is all in the voice
Aditya Challa of IMImobile takes a look at some current and future applications of artificial intelligence (AI) for customer experience in the financial and banking sector, as well as the challenges that still need to be overcome. Beyond the current race to build chatbots, he predicts that voice-driven AI services will ultimately become the main […]
Find Innovation in a Sandbox, Not in a Lab
For financial institutions lacking the deep pockets of the biggest competitors, investing their limited resources to develop disruptive payments solutions isn’t a viable option. Stated simply, you can never outspend the big guys. What you really need is a more effective weapon to level the playing field.
FinLeap reveals new €39m funding, partners and HQ
German fintech incubator FinLeap has a spring in its step with new capital, new partners and a new HQ. The company has raised around €39 million from several investors, including the German Insurer Signal Iduna, SBI Group from Japan and the Dutch NIBC bank. Furthermore, the reinsurer Hannover Re, as a “big institutional investor”, raised […]
IBM unveils data protection engine for cloud era
IBM has unveiled IBM Z, a new transaction system, capable of running more than 12 billion encrypted transactions per day and designed for use in the cloud. The firm is looking to address data breaches, which it reckons are a major factor in the $2 trillion cybercrime impact on the global economy by 2019. IBM […]
White paper: boost performance of financial services IoT projects with in-memory computing
The financial services industry is already embracing the internet of things (IoT), using devices to collect data that needs to be analysed in real time and stored for historical analysis.
Behavioural black magic
In 1957 the US market researcher James Vicary claimed he could get moviegoers to “drink Coca-Cola” and “eat popcorn” by flashing messages onscreen for such a short time that viewers were unaware they had seen them. The term “subliminal advertising” was coined to describe this unnerving practice and it was subsequently banned in many countries.
Blockchain and Bitcoin round-up: 14 July 2017
From a mystery to a European duet. Our latest blockchain and Bitcoin round-up features the secretive SafeToken, China’s Asset Collection Chain, Swissquote and Bitstamp. A former (and anonymous) Goldman Sachs employee has launched the first “anti-bubble” derivative for Bitcoin. They didn’t reveal their name in their email or on the website. A search around hasn’t […]
Top fintech stories this week – 14 July 2017
Catch up on Banking Technology’s top five fintech stories of the week – all in one place! Aktia Bank finally live with Temenos T24 core banking system “Some system repairs will be carried out during the following weeks.” HSBC and Barclays pilot banking without borders Testing use of a citizen’s national digital identity. ANZ, Westpac […]
Sumitomo Mitsui takes its place at Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) are partnering with New York-based Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) for business development and tech innovation. According to Sumitomo Mitsui, ERA is New York’s largest and oldest tech accelerator, with 140 portfolio companies involved in a variety of markets. These firms have a combined market […]
Allfunds unveils API platform for wealth management
Allfunds Bank Group is all for APIs with the launch of a new platform targetting the wealth management industry. The platform offers a “fully digitised way” of accessing Allfunds services by providing access to third party applications using standardised APIs which it says comply with emerging regulatory norms such as MiFiD II. Like many other […]
Sydney and Melbourne launch fintech start-up hubs
It’s a double development delight in Australia with Sydney and Melbourne unveiling fintech start-up hubs for innovation across the nation. Industry body FinTech Australia says Sydney’s proposed new 11-floor start-up hub – set to be the largest in the southern hemisphere – “should help build even stronger links between the Australian fintech industry and global […]
Fintech funding round-up: 13 July 2017
And the money keeps rolling in for fintech! Features Revolut, Curve, Pixoneye and Gridspace. Banking Technology’s sister publication Paybefore reports. UK challenger bank Revolut announced a $66 million investment from Index Ventures, Balderton Capital and Ribbit Capital, which the company will use to introduce new features and expand globally, starting with Asia and North America. […]
UK watchdog backs PSR plan for merger of three payment bodies
The UK’s Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has got approval from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for its plan for the consolidation of the operators of three payment systems. As first reported in May, the PSR aimed to get Bacs Payment Schemes (BPSL), Cheque and Credit Clearing Company (C&CCC) and the Faster Payments Scheme (FPSL) […]
Falcon Private Bank flies into blockchain asset management nest
Falcon is the “first” Swiss private bank to provide blockchain asset management solutions for its clients through a new co-operation with crypto financial broker Bitcoin Suisse. The bank’s clients can exchange and hold Bitcoins via Falcon using their cash holdings. Additionally, a Bitcoin ATM has been installed in the lobby of the bank’s headquarters in […]
Google extends long arm of influence further into AI
Google has launched a new initiative, Gradient Ventures, its own VC arm to seek out artificial intelligence (AI) talent and invest in start-ups, reports Telecoms.com (Banking Technology’s sister publication). The initiative itself is a simple one. Google will provide funds and access to experienced engineers to help the start-ups develop to the next level. AI […]
Mothership launches blockchain exchange for Estonia’s e-residency
Mothership, a digital asset exchange, has launched offering a cloud hosting platform and wallet for blockchain financial services around the Estonian e-residency programme. The start-up is the “first company of its kind” to integrate with e-residency. As reported in May, the Baltic state unveiled this programme to let anyone apply to join its new digital […]
R3 brings the Intel to Corda DLT platform
Enterprise software firm R3 is working with Intel to beef up its data privacy and security for Corda, its distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform. R3, which used to call itself a blockchain consortium, says Corda only sends data to those who have a “need to know”. According to the company, this feature emerged from the […]
Tic:Toc tactic is 22 minutes for home loan approval
Australia-based start-up Tic:Toc has launched an online home loan platform, offering customers approval in 22 minutes, instead of 22 days. The firm is backed by Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, as well as the State Government in South Australia, which approved a $900,000 grant to Tic:Toc through its Investment Attraction Agency’s (IASA) Economic Investment Fund. Tic:Toc’s […]
FitPay and Mastercard take prepaid to wearables and IoT
FitPay Inc, a US-based provider of payment, credential management and authentication platform services, is planning to offer prepaid capabilities on wearable and other devices connected to its FitPay Payment Platform.
Bold statement three: statements from around the bleeding edge of innovation
Hello all and apologies it’s taken a little while to get to the third instalment of the series about “pet peeve statements”. For those who are new, I am talking about those bold, declaratory statements that puff up the chest and make people feel awfully progressive and far sighted – and as I have said before, all sound and fury, signifying stormy waters ahead!
Finicity and JP Morgan Chase pair for data share
Data aggregation provider Finicity has signed an agreement with JP Morgan Chase to let the bank’s customers choose data to share with apps. The companies will use a direct API to allow Chase customers to share information with the apps and services that Finicity supports. According to the firms, this tokenised access will eliminate the […]
Finxact unleashes Open Core API for sandbox playtime
Core banking software provider Finxact has made its Open Core API available through its sandbox for fun times in innovation. The firm says its API is transparent and granular, enabling banks to have full access to their customer data. Finxact adds that it is the first core banking provider to join the Open API Initiative. […]
HSBC and Barclays pilot banking without borders
A consortium of European private and public sector organisations are testing out the use of a citizen’s national digital identity from France to open a bank account in the UK. The group comprises HSBC, Barclays, the UK Government Digital Service (GDS), Orange, OT-Morpho and the Open Identity Exchange (OIX UK). The project is co-financed by […]
Bank of England fintech accelerator goes into third gear
The Bank of England’s (BoE) fintech accelerator has kept good speed and completed the third round of various proofs of concept (PoCs). As reported last year, BoE launched its own accelerator to harness innovation for central banking. The latest PoCs covered four areas of the bank’s work: analysing large-scale supervisory data sets; executing high-value payments […]
Interview: Nelson Holzner, AEVI – imagination will take you everywhere
Nelson Holzner, newly appointed CEO of AEVI, talks to Banking Technology about the importance of innovation and simplification, and addressing real-life problems with working solutions. “Do more” is AEVI’s motto.
ANZ, Westpac and IBM trial blockchain for bank guarantees
Australia and New Zealand-based banking group, ANZ, and Westpac have teamed with IBM and shopping centre operator Scentre Group to use blockchain to digitise the bank guarantee process for commercial property leasing. The trial used distributed ledger technology (DLT) to eliminate the need for current paper-based bank guarantee documents, resulting in a “single source of […]
Puzzle no more with BNI Europa’s prompt consumer credit platform
Challenger Banco BNI Europa (BNI) has unveiled “Puzzle”, a digital and real-time credit approval process for the Portuguese market. Don’t be confused by the name, the bank says Puzzle is “simple, and non-bureaucratic”; and it even cites the Lending Club in the US, or Zopa in the UK by way of comparison. Puzzle offers credit […]
Nordea looks to Feelingstream AI for quick customer service
Nordea has chosen Estonian start-up Feelingstream’s artificial intelligence (AI) software to speed up response times for customers. Feelingstream’s AI solution analyses and categorises messages sent by customers so they can be forwarded automatically to the right person or unit in Nordea for further processing. The software can analyse hundreds of messages per second. The solution […]
Mizuho trials Australia-Japan trade transaction on blockchain
Mizuho Financial Group, Mizuho Bank, trading and investment firm Marubeni Corporation, and Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Insurance have completed a trade transaction between Australia and Japan using blockchain. The participants say all trade-related processes, from issuing the letter of credit to delivering documents, were completed entirely via a digital platform in this project. (See image below […]
