Fintech News Issue #148 Wednesday, December 27th 2017 05:24PM

FinTech’s omnipresence in our lives means that it deserves its own special place in our end-of-year reflections. As 2017 comes to a close, we can look back on what has gone well throughout the year, what needs improvement, and how the industry can get off to positive start in 2018.

APIs, artificial intelligence, easier mobile banking, new forms of security authentication and the Internet of Things will help banks modernize their technology.

FinTech Weekly interviewed Alexander Weber, Head of International Markets at mobile bank N26. We briefly talked about their market expansion to the UK and US, building the fintech hub through partnerships with incumbents and fintechs and why N26 does not fear the tech giants in banking.

At a high level, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a branch of computer science that makes machines imitate intelligent human behavior, simulating (and often exceeding) human performance. AI has finally emerged as the future...

2018 looks to be a good year for U.S. fintech companies, as banks plan to step up their investments.

After a year of explosive price growth, forks, failed forks and more, there is much that can be said about bitcoin in 2017. Massive strides were taken, and much has been learned. However, as we push further into uncharted waters, what happens from this point onward continues to be just as divisive a topic as ever.

The past 12 months have seen a range of patent applications focused on cryptocurrency or blockchain applications, including some from notable firms such as banking giant Bank of America and credit scoring giant FICO.

The development of biometrics on mobile devices is set to have an outsized impact on mobile wallets and international money transfer. Advances such as fingerprint login, retinal scan, and facial recognition offer a rare opportunity for remittance companies to both combat fraud and improve the user experience.

Central banks may be the 800-pound gorillas of the financial universe, but they have largely kept their hands off of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, preferring to monitor developments from a distance.

If 2017 was the year of the ICO, 2018 will be the year of the great ICO hangover. It will also be the year major financial institutions adopt digital assets, and mark the birth of hybrid blockchains.

The year in fintech exits. Whenever an incipient industry emerges, the first phase is marked by the arrival of new entrants, which is followed by a period of consolidation.

A new European Union payments directive is set to go live next month — and for U.S. bankers, it’s worth keeping an eye on.

It’s tough being an online supplement vendor. Here you are, an honest American, selling faith and hope to customers in search of salvation by way of penis enlargement pills. Or weight loss drugs. Or Schedule II narcotics. The stuff dreams are made of.

AI could boost banks’ revenues by 3.4% and cut costs by 3.9% over the next three years, UBS says. While AI-powered technologies have significant challenges to overcome, entrepreneurs move the industry forward by introducing the next generation of capabilities to the financial services industry.

The finance function has always been at the forefront of advances in computing.