Fintech News Issue #197 December 20th, 2018

If you haven’t seen “Justice League”, I could totally get away with pretending this is my line. But I suspect #mytribe would know this for what it is: a Diana Prince quote from Justice League.

Differentiation in the marketplace is no longer determined by price, product or location. Instead, leading brands have shown that the power of customer experience – both online and offline – is the most important component of long-term competitive and financial success.

Look at these branch projects and you won't see anything resembling the stuffy, boring designs that typified banks in the past. This is the biggest branch gallery The Financial Brand has every published, loaded with over 100 photos of lounges and hangouts that eschew tellers and transactions in favor of coffee and comfy couches.

Dan McKinney, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Finxact, shares the trends that he sees are on the horizon for 2019.

Modern financial markets are marked with the massive growth of information and the rapid speed at which data is collected and processed, especially with the emerging alternative data as new sources of edge for investment management. This calls for new methods and algorithms that can adapt to big data with high efficiency and better results.

Identity these days takes a much more complex shape with the inclusion of Physical, Legal, Electronic & Behavioral aspects combined; some of which are derived from data-driven metrics. Let’s take a brief look at these four components of the Identity.

As 2018 draws to a close, many are focusing on the challenges that lie ahead. The digital asset markets are down, and we’ve seen the industry contract as a result.

Have you ever considered ditching your human investment advisor and going with an online automated service instead?

While 2018 saw huge investor demand for cryptos, challenger banks, and cloud computing, 2019 could be a big year for artificial intelligence. Predictions for 2019 include significant developments in natural language processing, improved efficiencies, and advancements in facial recognition and machine-human interactions, writes Chrissy Chiu

The fintech progression in the latest years has marked a difference in the technology world. During the first years of the 21st century, we have witnessed growth in the financial sector in the form of financial literacy, new processes and automated services.

“In 2018, after years of card payments slowly weighing in on the dominance of cash transactions, cashless has now overtaken as the most popular method of payment. Last year saw a 15% drop in notes and coins used, and strengthened by the growing popularity of contactless cards, cashless payments now reign supreme.”

When it comes to embracing technology, trade finance has often lagged behind other core banking services. But this may soon change.

As we approach the end of this year, we delve into some fascinating insights about global investment trends of banks/financial institutions in FinTech startups.

Payment apps like Alipay and WeChat transformed daily life in China. The West won’t see a similar payments revolution—and that might even be a good thing.

As the fintech landscape continues to evolve, a look at the newest developments from across the globe.