Stop taking Britain’s glittering fintech status for granted October 22, 2019 The preaviling narrative in the UK is that the Europeans were deeply disappointed by the 2016 Brexit referendum result, and have been imploring Britain to think again. And, indeed, some have. But, just like British Leave voters in 2016, many Europeans regard Brexit as a unique opportunity for their own countries. Over recent months, I [...]
Fintech Ebury expands international reach with acquisition of Frontierpay October 21, 2019 Ebury has acquired international payroll payments provider Frontierpay as the London-based fintech seeks to expand internationally. Ebury, one of Europe’s largest fintech firms, offers foreign exchange services and trade finance to small and medium sized businesses designed to make it easier for businesses to trade internationally. Read more: London overtakes New York to steal global [...]
DEBATE: Is the G7 warning the end for Facebook’s libra? October 16, 2019 Now that the G7 has issued a warning against the cryptocurrency, is this it for Facebook’s libra? YES, says Ana Bencic, president of Nexthash. Facebook’s libra is the most high-profile example of a centralised cryptocurrency and is a living example of how it will be perhaps the last one to exist. The G7’s warning to [...]
Delving inside FinTech innovator Prepaid Financial Services October 15, 2019 | Sponsored “Our core strength is achieving consistent profitability,” Valerie Moran, Head of Operations & Client Relations. It’s late on a Wednesday night in the City. PFS’ owners have reached the end of a selfie queue at a private bank after Valerie Moran was invited to deliver a keynote speech on a hot topic – Diversity and [...]
Exodus reduces Libra members to 21 companies October 14, 2019 The final membership roster of Facebook’s controversial cryptocurrency project Libra has been revealed, having taken a significant hit after several major players abandoned ship. The Libra Association said 21 companies had signed the charter, committing to pay a $10m (£7.9m) founders’ fee and introduce a Libra incentive scheme, following a council meeting in Geneva. Uber, [...]
From Bloom & Wild to Moneybox, we meet the man who co-founded both October 14, 2019 What do a flower shop and an investment app have in common? More than you might think, says the co-founder of two flourishing British businesses, Moneybox and Bloom & Wild. The latter was featured in City A.M. in 2017 and remains one of the fastest growing tech companies in the country, according to Deloitte. “I [...]
UK financial services firms leading the way on automation October 14, 2019 Financial services firms in the UK are integrating robo-advisers into their ranks faster than their global competitors in a bid to harness the technology to retain customers – or poach new ones, new research has found. While 37 per cent of UK financial services firms surveyed have implemented robotic processing automation (RPA) – a technology [...]
Revolut in bid to raise £1.2bn and become Europe’s most valuable fintech firm October 12, 2019 Fintech firm Revolut is seeking to raise £1.2bn from its investors in the coming months. The British-Based payment firm has hired investment bank JP Morgan to arrange a £395m equity raise and issuance of a £790m convertible loan, according to Sky News. Read more: Martin Gilbert to step down from Stand Life and join Revolut [...]
Checkout.com expands to new London headquarters as revenue surges October 9, 2019 Online payments startup Checkout.com is set to hire 100 members of staff and relocate to new Old Street offices as it unveiled a sharp rise in revenue for the year. The British fintech unicorn will triple its office space with a new 63,000 square feet location near the capital’s Silicon Valley roundabout, having outgrown its [...]
Rising Risk (Part II): Tech bubble take two October 9, 2019 | City Talk In this second instalment of a two-part article, Sebastien Canderle says many tech start-ups are deploying a bagful of tricks to massage their numbers I have already laid out my thoughts here on CFA Institute Talk on the topic of the innovative financial engineering for which many buyout experts have become associated – for example, [...]