Fintech News Issue #188 October 17th, 2018

How is the future of fintech being funded? Hosts JP Nicols and Jason Henrichs talk about corporate venture capital and strategic investing, then Jason continues the conversation with VCs Kat Utecht and Matt Harris as we explore the differences between investing in “workhorses” vs. “unicorns.”

Today's insights show takes a closer look at what it means to create good digital products, how to give products room to breathe before they're abandoned and how to make, test and iterate.

As the world grows increasingly digital, providing the 'humanized engagement' becomes ever more important. Digital consumers demand more today than speed and simplicity. They want to feel good about their interactions with technology, and this requires some element of the personal touch.

As financial firms make the transition to digital they also need to revamp their risk management, says EY in a recent paper, “Moving from analog to digital: a new paradigm for risk management.”

The “move fast and break things” attitude means building things and figuring out how they make money later. Recently, the excitement over the possibilities of blockchain has combined with this to create some promising and crazy ideas – blockchain for copyright, blockchain for music distribution, blockchain smartphones, and blockchain for identity.

The rise of financial technology won't threaten the existence of banks, policymakers and regulators said at the IMF-World Bank annual meetings on Thursday. It's the responsibility of authorities to make sure that traditional banks are prepared for changes in their industry, they added.

Next year millions of people across Europe will suddenly find it harder to log in to their mobile bank account.

Gone are the days where gathering and organizing vast lakes of data was enough to create value for organizations. Financial institutions in particular have captured significant amounts of data for years but are failing to truly use this asset in ways that deliver value for their organizations and customers.

This is going to be a bold statement: It’s time for your business to start embracing blockchain, the biggest game-changer in technology since the internet.

Pioneering financial institutions are exploring where AI can make the most difference to their operations – from customer service to fraud detection.

China is, by some distance, the undisputed world leader in bitcoin mining — with Chinese mining pools controlling more than 70% of the bitcoin network's collective hash rate, the measuring unit of the processing power of the bitcoin network.

The success of Carnival Cruise Line is no surprise to Arnold Donald, Carnival’s chief executive or his supporting executive staff, seven of which are women or nonwhite men, and were recruited from a variety of industries. Donald’s strategy of creating a diversified workforce where differing opinions are welcome and respected has contributed to an 80% increase in stock price and rave reviews from customers.

Industrialisation is in part the story of humanity trying to eliminate dependence on itself: trying to distill the essence of a business away from a master craftsman who may die, a gifted engineer who may walk out or a grumpy expert whose moods dictate their performance.

We track more than 2,000 start-ups offering traditional and new financial services—though we estimate there may be as many as 12,000. Here’s how banks should respond.

James Borley, Director at fscom, discusses the need for UK payment and e-money institutions to consider Belgium as a post-Brexit solution.