Fintech News Issue #133 September 14th, 2017

A high level of regulatory change continues to buffet a financial services industry already trying as hard as it can to stay afloat in choppy economic waters. To describe the industry as overstretched in such conditions is probably an understatement at the moment.

Leda Glyptis believes banks needn’t be afraid of the API era. They should build a workforce that can deliver a future that’s shared and interdependent.

Thank you for using our news service. We are happy to have you onboard and we value your opinion. Help us improve and provide you with just the content you are looking for. Two minutes of your time will be enough – promised. Many thanks from the FinTech Weekly team :)

What are the advantages of using virtual cards, and will they gain more market share in the future? Story by Kyle Ferguson.

Retail finance has exploded in the past few years. Merchants are increasingly understanding the benefits it can have for the growth of their business, particularly in the current climate; boosting conversion rates, increasing average order values and improving customer satisfaction.

Branches built out of shipping containers that measure 160 square feet could be the next stage in the banking industry's evolution of retail delivery. Here's how banks are experimenting with these bite-sized branch designs.

Sweden leads the world in cashlessness. In doing so it also leads the world in opening its citizens up to fine-grained financial surveillance. “Cashless society” is a euphemism for a “bank payments society”

Vikram Pandit, who ran Citigroup Inc. during the financial crisis, said developments in technology could see some 30 percent of banking jobs disappearing in the next five years.

Blockchain, the secure distributed ledger technology first created to track bitcoin ownership, has taken on a number of new roles in recent years tracking anything of value from diamonds to real estate deeds to contracts.

Between 2011 and 2014, according to the World Bank, the number of people in the world with a bank account, either directly or through a mobile-money provider, grew by no fewer than 700m.

Corporate banks haven’t kept pace with the changing financial environment, say Oliver Bussmann and Falk Rieker.

According to UBS' Global Family Office Report, which is based on a survey of senior staff from over 260 family offices across the world, family offices are paying more attention to how they can make money for their clients and tackle issues such as poverty and global warming.