Fintech News Issue #135 September 27th, 2017

CALLS FOR 2018 P2 APPLICANTS – 15 places open for first round of Switzerland’s Top Startup Accelerator Program.
Potential candidates have until December 15th to prepare and submit their application with Switzerland’s leading accelerator. The P2 program itself will start on Match 5th, 2018 and run until August 23rd of the same year.

Walk into the Bank of America in uptown Charlotte and you’d hardly know you’re in a bank. Instead of tellers behind high counters, you’ll find an interactive touch-screen learning wall, a video-conferencing room, a table showcasing new technology features, and a digital greeter.

Just a few months after the Apple launched the iPhone, an issue of Forbes magazine appeared with this title on the cover: "Nokia. One Billion Customers - Can Anyone Catch the Cell Phone King?" Nobody expected what would happen next.

Steve McLaughlin: “Fintech does not feel like it’s played out,” he says in this conversation with Knowledge@Wharton. “I still think we’re in the first or second innings.”

Banks like Barclays and HSBC are the latest to join the “utility settlement coin” project, started by UBS and Clearmatics Technologies in 2015. The idea is to develop a new, streamlined payment mechanism for institutional purposes.

Mastercard may be looking to integrate blockchain into its payments infrastructure.

When engaging into a customer-supplier relationship, you are usually faced with two types of associations. The most usual is what is called transactional relationship.

According to a recent report from the World Economic Forum, fintechs should start to fear the muscling-in of the tech heavyweights. As Alexa is the personal assistant of choice for several FIs and Amazon powers web content for others, are the tech giants dwarfing the diminutive disruptors?

Blockchain technology is changing the way many technology startups raise money. Now the many startups developing applications for blockchain technology have another option.

[Infographic] Here are 58 facts about Bitcoin in one infographic.

After revelations of harassment and bias in Silicon Valley, a backlash is growing against the women in tech movement.

What is the future of machine learning in finance? originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

According to multiple press reports, Japan is planning to launch its own national digital currency, J COIN, in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games.

Seed funding is drying up. Accelerators are scrambling for revenue. Things are changing drastically in the startup ecosystem. Why?

With an estimated $29.1 billion in online loans originated in the US market by alternative lenders in 2015 alone, marketplace lending has emerged as one of the fastest-growing areas of the credit universe.

Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank (ECB), has indicated that his institution does not have the authority to regulate cryptocurrencies.