In this weeks issue:
- The age of the consumer and the
- Rise of UK fintech ecosystem
- Parallel financial system?
- Digital criminals sow destruction
- Fintech-bank partnerships a dead buzzword?
- Goldman from investment bank to fintech
- Improving Canada's productivity problem
The Age of the consumer: There's something special happening at the intersection of crowdfunding and fintech where companies offering equity do so ' not just for money' but to start a win-win relationship with customers that lead to greater engagement, better products, growth, profit and stronger (more democratic) businesses.
Rise of the UK fintech ecosystem: It took 11 years post 2008 financial crisis to build the UK's fintech ecosystem into what it is today. Hear from some of the UKs biggest fintech CEOs and leaders such as Monzo, Starling, Revolut, OakNorth, FCA, Bank of England and more on the Rise of fintech in this full documentary.
Parallel financial system?: Blockchain startup, Fnality is developing next generation finance with the backing of a consortium of financial institutions such as Barlclays, CIBC, Credit Suisse and Sumitomo Mitsubishi Banking corp. Their plan is to create a financial infrastructure to serve the digital marketplace that is to come.
Digital criminals sow destruction: Cyber-attacks aren’t just a problem for big business, they cost small companies $200,000 on average, putting many out of business. To thwart this threat firms are advised to employ a comprehensive mix of high-low tech strategies.
Partnership a dead buzzword in banking? Bank/Fintech partnerships are not the future? Well according to this commentator they won’t be. Taking what appears to be a page out of Clayton Christianson’s work, Ron Shevlin of Forbes contends that there will be working together, but partnerships aren’t the answer. But nobody told this to Goldman Sachs.
Goldman from investment bank to fintech: Goldman is perhaps the most dynamic firm on Wall Street, so when they start making changes, it’s wise to pay attention. First, they are moving to be more of a platform than an old school bank. And they've spent an eye watering $450 million US to acquire new customers for their various businesses. Is this how the banks of the future will evolve from the past?
This move from a B2B heritage to a B2C future is explained by Omer Ismail (podcast), Head of Goldman’s US consumer business Marcus in this podcast. Lots of interesting insights into the development of Marcus.
Research:
Canada's financial sector has a productivity problem: The C.D. Howe institute explores the tension between productivity, innovation and regulation as it relates to the financial sector in Canada. There are no easy solutions but a call for regulators to have more explicit competitiveness mandates and to shift incentives for financial institutions to shift focus from mortgage lending to one on business lending.
The recent EY fintech adoption report for 2019 is worth a read in its entirety. While Canada is catching up we're still way behind the global average and with clear preference for payment and transfer models. China and India at 87% adoption are the highest globally with the UK clocking 71%. Bridging the gap
CCAF releases Global Regulator Survey Results – Regulation of Alternative Finance is Key to Make Sector Safe to Scale for the Masses
Press releases:
- Cybercrime FinTech, Flare Systems, Raises $1M, Led by Luge Capital (more)
- Mako Fintech Announces Launch of US Transfer Agency Business and Formation of Advisory Board (more)
- NEO and Silver Maple Ventures (FrontFundr) Introduce DealSquare to Disrupt Canadian Private Markets for the Better (more)
- 12 Leading Canadian high-growth SMEs announced for FinTech Mission to the UK (more)
Featured industry partner of the week: