Fintech News Issue #118 Thursday, May 18th 2017 01:55PM

David and Jason have the wind knocked out of them as they interview Gary Vaynerchuck for this very special Fintech Insider Interview. "There is a not a single client that does the work I want them to do… Period."

A common analogy to the finance sector is the newspaper industry, and rightly so. Finance is quickly shaping up to be remarkably similar. The incumbent banks are the heavyweight newspapers – the Washington Post and Financial Times of the world.

There has been a lot of rumour and speculation recently, focused around the news that Apple is working on augmented reality (AR) as its next major product. Last year, we saw how fast the take up of AR could be with the introduction of Pokémon Go that became a massive international cultural phenomenon almost overnight.

Fintech was created to rattle the legacy industry that is banking. These companies can operate quickly and efficiently, something banks have struggled to do in the digital era.

The FinTech revolution has become a worldwide movement in just a few years, with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. Global FinTech investments in 2015 were over double that of total investments made in 2014, indicating a surge in interest among different countries to become the FinTech capital of the world.

There’s no template for making bank branches friendly to autistic people, but Regions Financial is taking a crack at it.

A few years ago, many in financial services thought robo-advisers would completely disrupt traditional wealth and asset management services at banks.

Many regions in Asia are developing major technology ecosystems, and the finance industry is not an exception to this trend. To a great extent, these innovation efforts are driven by the Asian tech giants, coupled with the emergence of a very dynamic Fintech landscape.

Google searches for "fintech" are hovering at an all-time high, suggesting that the conversation about the digital transformation is peaking. But while the discussion has increased, the dollars have decreased.

The United Nations is a Swiss army knife of humanitarian aid. When catastrophe strikes, dozens of agencies within the organization, founded in the aftermath of World War II, lay in wait in offices around the world, each with their own specialized role to alleviate suffering and establish peace.

Chatbots are transforming the banking industry. With recent advancements in machine learning, artificial intelligence and natural language processing, chatbots are more accurate than ever before. Banking chatbots have the potential to create deeper, insightful connections with customers, automate backend operations, and create friction-free banking experiences.

The United States has long had a reputation as a banking and financial juggernaut and leader of innovation. But unless American banks embrace open banking, they will lose the title.

Blockchain is in its infancy in the mortgage industry but has the potential to turn the mortgage process into a slick, secure and fast end-to-end solution connecting all elements of the home loan chain. Matt Shaw, director at Synechron Business Consulting, explains

These company examples highlight what some leaders are doing to build new customer experiences.

Incumbents need to keep their eyes out for new entrants that use technology to create a strategic advantage. The size of their share in the next generation of the insurance industry is at stake.

Last week, Facebook announced it would hire 3,000 workers to monitor content streamed and posted on the vast social network. These legions of new staffers will augment the existing team members who keep an eye on the site...