FinTech News Issue #35 October 1st, 2015

It is official- Millennials are now the biggest consumer generation. And digital natives have more options than ever before, and exercise their options to find the services that meet their needs the best. Today, Brett talks to Samantha Ghiotti of Anthemis, and Aldo de Jong of Claro Partners about their new tool "Always in Beta", which explains the approach that banks need to take to reform their culture and systems in the 21st century.

This week, we welcome a guest again: Steffen Blumröder from BITKOM, who already talked to us in Podcast 19. After a brief recap, we originally wanted to talk about topics of regulation concerning fintech. Unfortunately, we experienced some technical problems, which is why we need to postpone this part to next week.

The objective of this 3 part series is to examine in brief the barriers and motivators for the key players in (the author believes it has elements that can stand true for any economy that intends to go cashless) Journey towards a cashless society (India as a example).

They say that actors really want to direct, and directors really want to act. We’re starting to see a similar grass-is-greener yearning in two of America’s most powerful industries. These days, banks want to become technology firms, and technology firms want to become banks.

Beyond the hyperbole that loyally follows fintech in the U.K. (and elsewhere in Europe), the country’s banking sector is on the verge of facing some genuine disruption. That includes the trio of ‘challenger banks’ making headlines — Mondo, Starling, and Atom — but there are other startups looking to take a significant slice of the banking pie.

Digital connectivity of everyone to everything, anywhere, and at any time – and the ability to analyze and use this data in all aspects of daily life – provides opportunity and challenges.

If you are wondering why there is so much buzz around blockchain and what the banks are doing with it, then this is the right place.

For several years big data has been nearly synonymous with Hadoop, a relatively inexpensive way to store huge amounts of data on commodity servers. But recently banks have started using an alternative called Spark, with its promise of faster speeds and ability to handle diverse data types.

When bitcoin first emerged banks didn't want anything to do with it. But a few years down the line and pretty much all of them are looking at it.

Banking is changing fast — but perhaps not fast enough.

JUST as the worst effects of the financial crisis ebb, banks are facing a new challenge. Digital ‘disruptors,’ such as new startups and technology firms, are threatening traditional revenue streams by eating away at different parts of the banking and financial industry value chain.

The UK is fast becoming one of the world’s leading fintech centres. So it was fitting that, last week, investors, consultants, multinationals, startups and entrepreneurs gathered in London’s East End for FinTech Week 2015: an event where attendees could share ideas, network and, most importantly, do business together.