Santander’s using blockchain right now May 26, 2016 Santander is the latest bank to experiment with blockchain technology, applying it to international payments with the promise of making the process quicker. It claims to be the first bank in the UK to use blockchain in this way, trialling it in an iPhone app used by staff that reduces the time it takes to transfer cash by [...]
Old Street credit-checking startup expands into Germany with Deutsche Bank partnership May 26, 2016 An Old Street fintech startup is moving into Germany in partnership with Deutsche Bank. Ormsby Street’s credit-checking tool, CreditHQ, is used by more than 27,000 small businesses in the UK, the startup said. The tool, which allows small business to check the financial health and credit status of customers or partners, launched in Italy last year. [...]
Sophos operating loss position widens despite rising revenues, thanks to IPO costs May 26, 2016 Losses at Sophos Group widened during the year to March, the IT security company announced today. The company announced that its operating losses had grown to $32.7m (£22.2m), compared with $500,000 the year before, thanks to $41.9m of exceptional costs – including those associated with the company's recent IPO – being booked during the year. Sophos' [...]
Ex-Barclays boss Rich Ricci: Fintech will eat banks’ lunch May 26, 2016 Rich Ricci, the former head of Barclays investment banking and right-hand man of Bob Diamond, has warned that fintech startups will snatch market share from established financial institutions and change the landscape of banking. Efforts of big banks to innovate will continue to be thwarted by their archaic technology as they face increasing competition from [...]
We’ve not even scratched the surface of fintech’s true potential – and banks will struggle to keep up May 26, 2016 Fintech innovation has seen rapid growth over the past few years and is producing businesses with scalable products. In turn, senior executives at banks are responding to the challenge these businesses present and have begun to set up their own incubators to capture this rapid innovation. Driving much of this has been the rise of [...]
Here’s why banks have – and can keep – the upper hand over P2P lenders May 26, 2016 I asked a former chief investment officer of a huge bank a couple of years ago which bank would buy up P2P firms first. They replied: “no, which P2P firm will buy a bank?” Deloitte’s report this week on marketplace lending (MPL) suggests they were wrong. It concludes that the success of P2P lenders is [...]
Overwatch review: Blizzard’s team-based online shooter opens the genre up to the talentless schmucks May 25, 2016 It’s okay to initially be a bit baffled by Overwatch. It’s an online, team-based first-person shooter, but it’s made by Blizzard, a developer better known for making games where you wave a cursor around and click on dwarves. In truth, anyone who’s ever played the classic Team Fortress 2 or its ilk will find Overwatch [...]
Samsung’s Apple and Android Pay rival will launch in Europe next week May 25, 2016 Samsung is heading into battle with Apple and Google in the war for mobile tap and pay users by focusing on extras such as membership and loyalty schemes as it launches Samsung Pay in Europe for the first time. The Korean smartphone maker is facing stiff competition from Apple Pay which launched last year and Google’s Android Pay [...]
No, P2P lenders aren’t going to topple banks – but we don’t want to May 25, 2016 Peer-to-peer lending was born a decade ago and has offered an alternative and often more accessible route to funding for thousands of small and medium sized businesses. The sector’s popularity has exploded in recent years, leading many, including a newly published report from Deloitte, to assume that platforms now have the established banking sector in [...]
Netflix and Amazon face European quotas under new EU rules aimed at creating a ‘single digital market’ May 25, 2016 The European Commission today unveiled its proposed new rules for video streaming companies such as Netflix and Amazon – with the aim of creating a so-called 'single digital market'. However, Netflix claims the new measures will not help achieve this aim. The Commission wants to impose a 20 per cent quota on streaming sites, which [...]