Fintech News Issue #129 August 17th, 2017

In an episode packed full of guests and news, we kick off with Tandem's takeover of Harrods bank - where did they get the money and what's their next move? Next up is Australia's latest move to make bitcoin an official currency as they continue to fight to become a leader in blockchain, and is bitcoin the key to Chinese investment?

In the age of the internet, fintech dominates finance. In the UK, the sector is currently worth £7 billion, employing around 60,000 people with figures set to increase. The industry is definitely awe-inspiring, but as the lines between traditional banking services and fintech blur, fintech could disappear entirely.

You have heard about blockchain and you might have acquired a rough idea of what it is by now. For most people, the term is not unknown, but most will barely be able to answer the question „what is the blockchain?“ right. After our series of 4 articles, you most probably will!

On July 4th 2012 an announcement was made at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) that shook the world. They had discovered a particle consistent in mass with the theorised but mystical Higgs boson, aka the God Particle. It was a significant discovery which furthered our understanding of the universe...

FinTech firms continue to attract investment from start-ups, as new entities look for ways to disrupt current financial markets, while venture capitalists remain interested in investing in companies, although they have taken a more cautious approach. Latest figures show investment in Q2 2017 running at around $8.4 billion, around double of Q1, though still lower than Q2 2016.

Do you want Siri or Alexa to be the voice of your organization, or do you prefer a solution that is differentiated in tone, context and capabilities? Tara Kelly, from SPLICE Software sat down with The Financial Brand to discuss the future of AI-driven voice solutions.

“The financial services industry will see more change in the next 10 years than it has in the last 100. And that transformation is being driven by a group of smart insurgent startup companies. The Fintech 250 are the most promising of these insurgents.” — CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal. According to CBInsights, there are now more than 250 tech startups redefining the financial services industry.

FinTech is in the spotlight, Silicon Valley is now turning its attention to the lucrative banking sector. Challenger banks, such as Monzo and Atom, are aiming to make banking transparent and simple. The emergence of FinTech start-ups has drastically increased competition in the Financial Services (FS) space.

People often need financial advice that’s best suited to meet their needs, which differ from one generation to another. You cannot expect millennials to consume the same financial advice as baby boomers.

But that people should be ‘thoughtful’ in their use of blockchain technology

No, code isn't law, but if the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance's new members have anything to say about it, that might someday change.

If you’ve been paying attention to your social media feeds or most news outlets, it should be pretty clear to you that millennials seem to be “killing” just about everything – from Applebee’s to the entire golf industry.