How alternative finance is making supply chain finance sexy – a Q&A with C2FO’s Colin Sharp April 28, 2016 The world of alternative finance is increasingly varied. There are property equity crowdfunding platforms, remittance firms with Wikipedia payment models. Specialist lending products are growing in popularity and some firms are looking at blockchain technology. Platform C2FO is focused on helping to bring liquidity to business supply chains. It gives companies visibility of their entire [...]
Finance actually wants more regulation because of the rise of artificial intelligence fintech in the world’s markets April 25, 2016 The finance world is cautiously optimistic about the future of artificial intelligence and how it can be used, but, there is more work needed on regulating the technology when it comes to world markets. “Financial institutions have been fined billions of dollars because of illegality and compliance breaches by traders. A logical response by banks is to [...]
Death of a unicorn: Inside one of the biggest startup failures of all time – and Powa Technologies boss Dan Wagner’s surprise statement April 18, 2016 Powa Technologies, once valued at more than $1bn making it one of Britain's rare breed of so-called unicorns, collapsed into tech myth earlier this year. In fact, it was one of the most well funded startups in the world to ever fail, according to tech data gurus at CB Insights, after raising multi-millions of pounds worth [...]
London’s fintech bubble hasn’t burst yet as established financial institutions remain desperate to be involved with startups April 13, 2016 Suggestions that London’s fintech investment bubble is about to burst have been largely rebuffed and it would appear banks and other traditional financial institutions are still keen to fund new entrants to the industry. However many are in danger of buying into so-called innovation theatre, collecting a trophy cabinet of proof-of-concept fintech startups that bank customers neither need nor want, [...]
Airbnb’s hired blockchain technology experts April 13, 2016 The home rental startup superstar Airbnb is the latest business eyeing up blockchain technology. Just weeks after Airbnb co-founder Nathan Blecharczy spoke to City A.M about the potential blockchain technology might have in its business, than the company has made several hires of experts in the technology. Several staff from US-based ChangeCoin, a startup which created micro-payments platform ChangeTip, have been snapped up by Airbnb. [...]
Fintech collaborators gain ground on disrupters as global investment rockets by 67 per cent in first quarter of 2016 April 13, 2016 It pays to be kind in fintech. Or, at least, it shows how mature you are. A new report has suggested collaborative fintech ventures, which target financial institutions as customers, are gaining ground on disrupters, which aim to compete with them. Globally, collaborative ventures accounted for 38 per cent of all fintech investment in 2010. In [...]
Blockchain: The president of the San Francisco Fed tells City A.M. why he’s excited about the distributed ledger technology April 12, 2016 RSCoin is the bitcoin alternative the Bank of England proposed to launch last month. Having its own digital currency would give the central bank a faster payments system, and more of an idea of what’s happening when and where within that system. Speaking to the president of the San Francisco Fed, John C Williams, at [...]
EU referendum: One way Brexit could actually be good for UK fintech April 11, 2016 The UK's prospering fintech sector has been urged to speak up in favour of remaining in Europe ahead of June's referendum and largely backs staying. But, there could be one serious advantage to leaving the union, some experts suggest If Britain were to leave, there would be a greater opportunity for innovative technology startups to disrupt the world of [...]
Britain’s financial regulator is the first to launch a fintech accelerator April 11, 2016 The FCA is getting experimental with fintech. The financial regulator is launching an experimental scheme which will allow new financial technology companies to test out innovations which are as yet unregulated to foster innovation in the market. The so-called sandbox project is the first of its kind to be directly led by a financial regulator [...]
Digital mortgage broker aims to bring market into “21st century” and save consumers £29bn after securing £1.55m in seed funding April 11, 2016 A digital mortgage broker aiming to save consumers up to £29bn a year launched today after securing £1.55m in seed funding. Habito said it was “taking aim at the £95bn mortgage broking market, one of the only pillars of the consumer finance sector yet to benefit from technological disruption”. The startup uses technology to analyse every [...]