Fintech News Issue #162 April 5th, 2018

Startup-institution relationships (whether its Carrier-InsurTech or Bank-FinTech cases) have evolved from competition to a beautiful friendship, bringing out the best and accelerating innovation adoption.

The financial crisis and the massive federal response reshaped the world we live in. Though the economy is in one of its longest expansions and stock indexes have hit new highs, many people across the political spectrum complain that the recovery is uneven and the markets' gains aren't fairly distributed.

Legacy systems have been able to make transaction processing efficient, but they have been a hindrance to the improvement of the consumer experience in banking. To be future-ready, banks and credit unions must transform back offices to deliver on the customer experience promise.

Cryptocurrencies – digital currencies that are transparent and free from government interference, running on secure blockchain technology are growing in popularity. In investment circles, and the wider sphere of financial services overall, cryptocurrencies still face a lot of skepticism and prejudice, fueled by regulatory uncertainty, volatility and in some cases, the perception of bloated valuations.

Collaboration between financial technology startups and established banks sounds good in theory, but may be difficult in practice

We grabbed Chris [Skinnder] and took him to the pub for a drink and a quick conversation on his new book Digital Human. Listen to the interviews in full on Fintech Insider here, stream it below or read on for a few key insights.

While the rich world of chatbots is associated the most with developments of artificial intelligence, the ability of AI to mitigate risk remains one of the most important areas of development for financial institutions.

AI and machine learning are making the customer experience more personalized and contextual than ever before.

Online-only banks have amped up customer expectations for authentic experiences. Building online marketplaces, offering niche products, and involving customers in product development are moves being noticed by incumbents.

KPMG International’s Guardians of trust report explores the evolving nature of trust in the digital world.

For decades, getting disparate bank applications to talk to each other was a nightmare. Most integration involved custom, point-to-point code, manually written by a programmer.

Sponsorship is an active condition. I remember the first time some leadership training or other gave me that little gem. And I was suspended half way between “mind blown” territory and “what planet did they come from” disbelief.

There has always been a tendency in banking to believe that 'more is better.' Unfortunately, in an increasingly complex world, consumers value simplicity. As opposed to just being 'less', banking needs to get rid of the unnecessary, without sacrificing delightful experiences. This guide should be shared throughout all banking organizations.

One of the questions I commonly get asked is what is the difference between public and private blockchains. It is easy to see why people get confused as public and private blockchains have many similarities.

Smith, the founder of modern economics, propagated the idea that government intervention and regulation of the economy was neither necessary nor beneficial. The actions of individuals (and businesses) would eventually benefit society, and therefore, the common good. But that’s rarely how individuals, corporations or our global economy really seem to work.

As technology continues to impact all components of financial services, the importance of enhancing the human aspect of a an organization's brand has never been more important. In this exclusive interview, Duena Blomstrom discusses her book, Emotional Banking, and the importance of changing the legacy banking culture of processing transactions to a culture of developing emotional connections.

When I began working in the financial services industry as a teller 25 years ago, it was ingrained in all of us that customer service was the biggest differentiator.

Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Ripple are lumped together into the same category by some investors—the cryptocurrency assets that are ready to collapse.