Fintech News Issue #59 Thursday, March 17th 2016 10:14AM

Beyond financial inclusion, a major concern for many customers is whether they can weather financial emergencies. Until recently, banks haven’t focused on assisting their customers with financial wellness, but many banks are changing their tune.

I’m a fintech entrepreneur and investor. I’ve been amazed how much interest this space has had over the last year. It’s like fintech has become THE place to “disrupt”.

Retail Banking is moving into new and exciting territories. Gone are the days when the industry was exclusively dominated by a handful of established organizations – the emergence of the challenger banks has paved the way towards a new era in banking. We spoke to the CEOs of some of the most promising challenger banks in Europe to hear their visions in this exciting time of data-driven change and disruption.

Over the last five years, there has been an explosion of tech start-ups rapidly innovating in the finance sector. A number of new players are slicing off a service normally run by a bank and doing it much better – from SME lending to card payments, from wealth management to international payments.

Enabling Digital Transformation in FinTech and InsurTech with a 6-months accelerator program starting May 2016 in Stuttgart, Germany. By Startup and entrepreneurial experts of Accelerate Stuttgart and etventure.

Where platforms and investors come to learn, network and do business | April 11-12 2016

For a relatively nascent technology, blockchain [...] seems to be everywhere. Well, verbally everywhere. Earlier this month, I participated in a Digital Leaders TV discussion on this very topic. It's also something I'm frequently asked about so I thought I'd use this blog to give a high level perspective.

Peer-to-Peer Lending is not a new phenomenon. It started in 2005 with the launch of Zopa, the first peer-to-peer (P2P) service. Though P2P lending was a game changer, it was the 2008 recession that pushed P2P lending into the limelight.

Few topics in the banking industry ignite a more fiery debate than the subject of branches. Do they have a future? If so, what is it? How many do you need (if any)? How big should they be? For the time being, data suggests the significance of the brick-and-mortar channel may be steadily diminishing, but branches are a far cry from dead and irrelevant.

As a region, Asia has seen $4.5 billion come into its financial startups from investors across a variety of stripes, which is quadruple the investment activity of a year ago, Reuters reported. That means the region is becoming a sweet spot for FinTech investment.

Foreign currency payments firm Midpoint got a bit closer to its small business accounting partner, Xero, this month when it revealed that not only had they extended their collaborative ties but that Midpoint would also be adding a “Pay Now” button to invoices sent through Xero.

Jens Bader is the chief commercial officer of Secure Trading. In this article, he discusses why FinTech firms are right to make demands from the banking industry.

What exactly is “Payments at the Edge?” Well, over the next two days, PYMNTS will be joined by those looking to chip away at that very question. It’s the question many players across the payments and commerce ecosystem are undertaking at this very moment.

To keep pace in digital channels, financial marketers must adopt a more nimble and responsive approach, where decisions are guided by data and continual testing. In digital, it's all about how quickly you can pivot.