Fintech News Issue #136 October 5th, 2017

We talk hacks, hacks and more hacks as the team take on the fallout from the Deloitte hack, the Equifax boss steps down after their hack, and CBS' Showtime gets hacked with code making user's computers mine cryptocurrency in the background as they watched their favourite shows... Phew!

For all the recognition artificial intelligence has enjoyed in the banking community, it hasn’t yet found a nearly equal level of adoption. With all the questions, misconceptions and curiosity surrounding this game-changing technology, Jim Marous shares some of the latest findings.

I get lots of input from many sources, and one of the ones I like is the innovation survey of banking produced annually by EFMA with Accenture. It also usually proves to be one of the most read items on my blog – here’s the 2015 and 2016 reports – so, as I know you like it too, here is this year’s perspective of banking start-ups and innovation.

The influx of new firms focused on AI is simply staggering. There are now more than 2,300 AI startups globally, half of which did not exist just two years prior. In regard to investment, the number of venture transactions funding AI startups increased nearly 10 times over the last six years, from 67 in 2011 to 658 in 2016.

Ahead of his speech at Lendit Europe 2017 next week, [Richard] Peers spoke to Verdict about the rise and future of fintech, why banks need to learn from Chinese tech companies and his thoughts on artificial intelligence (AI).

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The 'AI in Banking' Digital Banking Report surveyed banks and credit unions globally to determine the extent of development of artificial intelligence functionality in the banking industry. The findings indicate that industry-wide deployment is far behind other industries.

In short, Ethereum offers not only a way to log transaction protocols but it can actually run programmes and apps. While this sounds nice, it is actually well beyond nice, it might be revolutionary.

Compliance red tape. Legacy technology. Bureaucratic cultures. The impediments to bank innovation were a recurring theme at the Frontiers in Digital Finance conference at Columbia Business School on Monday. They are valid, and we've written about them many times. But a parallel theme was that innovation is hard for everyone.

Technology giants like Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple are showing an increasing interest in engaging with federal banking regulators, a move that underscores Silicon Valley’s growing involvement in the financial services arena.

While financial services delivered through digital channels have brought the convenience of anywhere, anytime banking to consumers, what is the cost? And, are banks living up to the expectations of their customers? As an industry, this is where the application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can help turn the tide.

"We are in the process of developing a new operating system for the planet." The remark, issued by Barclays' vice chairman of corporate banking, Jeremy Wilson, perhaps summed up the scope and tenor of discussion at the Blockchain for Finance conference yesterday.

In a remarkably frank talk at a Bank of England conference, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund has speculated that Bitcoin and cryptocurrency have as much of a future as the Internet itself. It could displace central banks, conventional banking, and challenge the monopoly of national monies.

I’ve said continually that firms like Google and Amazon will never open a bank. I still believe that this will be the case – Facebook and Apple also fall into this view – and mainly hold this view because these companies would find full service banking a difficult and unprofitable space.

Research reveals that Americans want easier, smarter and more convenient ways to manage their money and improve financial health, so they're turning to artificial intelligence.

Google, Apple, Facebook (GAF)* are all trying to crack mobile selling. Yet none of them have. And the signs are that they won’t crack it in Britain soon. Why is this? Well it’s not an impossible nut to crack.

To promote the sustainable, broad-based and versatile growth of FinTech. To innovate on the distribution of banking products and services in ways that can directly impact the consumer.

United Nations report notes the rapid growth of e-payment systems like Alipay and PayPal, and sees blockchain-based systems also rising in prominence

At a time when consumers are doing more of their banking on digital channels, the branch can still be a differentiator. The key is to make the customer journey seamless, using technology to improve one-to-one engagement.

Marketplace banking has the potential to deliver an interconnected financial services industry where banks can get closer to their small business customers explains Peter-Jan Van de Venn, CCO of Dutch digital core banking platform provider Five Degrees.

Recently, I set out to analyze the terms of various initial coin offerings (ICOs), aggregate the results and make them public. This was harder than I expected.