FinTech News Issue #20 June 19th, 2015

Braving the Philippines’ startup ecosystem, Singapore’s leading venture accelerator, The Co-Foundry, has kick-started a strategic partnership with global technology accelerator Plug and Play, Manila-based incubator LaunchGarage, global foreign exchange platform OANDA, and Singapore boutique venture capital firm BlueHill Asset Management.

Fintech, the home of the fabled unicorn, is hot. There are now 36 fintech unicorns in the wild, which is up 25 from 11 over the last year. This staggering growth is a reflection of the hype around fintech, where a plethora of startups are using technology to compete against or collaborate with established financial players. The result is a dramatic increase in company valuations as investors look to get in on the ground floor of the next big thing.

While the spotlight may be shining on the FinTech market, it is not a new phenomenon. Over the past five years, investment in FinTech start-ups has been steadily growing. According to CB Insights, in 2013, there was more than $3 billion of global financing activity. This represents a nearly 3-fold increase since 2008 in dollars invested and companies financed. Investments in North American continue to lead by a significant margin but the rest of the world has experienced faster growth, especially in 2012/2013.

To help Americans increase savings and improve credit, the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) - a national non-proift focused on spreading consumer financial health - is turning to the entrepreneurial community.

Scheme is looking to find and develop innovative solutions to problems in the payments space, with potential to access Visa member banks and retailers

Two American corporate financiers launched their restaurant payment business Cake in London after becoming frustrated with waiting for the bill

Global financial markets. Fintech reloaded – Traditional banks as digital ecosystems: With proven walled garden strategies into the future.

Santander InnoVentures, Oliver Wyman and Anthemis Group have today published “The Fintech 2.0 Paper: Rebooting financial services.” The paper is presented as “a call to action to banks, financial institutions and financial technology (fintech) businesses to work together to undertake a fundamental ‘reboot’ of the core processes, systems and infrastructure of the banking industry.”

"Silicon Valley is coming," JPMorgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon warned in his annual letter to shareholders in April. As head of the largest bank in the U.S., Dimon clearly meant to instill a sense of urgency amongst financial institutions

Banks can boast of some important innovations. ATMs, credit cards, securitisation, swaps and mobile banking are now taken for granted, but each was ground-breaking when first launched.

Startupbootcamp FinTech Singapore has appointed a new managing director (MD) in Steven Tong, formerly of Infocomm Investments and the London-based accelerator, and welcomed three new members in PwC Singapore, Pix Vine Capital and Jungle Ventures

Banks are struggling to recruit top software developers, app designers and engineers in a market where techies can pick and choose among employers perceived as cool and unburdened by aging technologies and rules.

Over the past several years, MasterCard has sponsored a series of financial technology events and contests in Israel, looking for top technology to enroll in its Start Path accelerator in Ireland.

This could be an exciting time for Korean startups in financial technology, or fin-tech, the e-startup news and information site e27 said, adding that Korea “doesn’t want to be left behind” in the growingly lucrative sector.

If you’re in the banking sector, there’s no doubt that you should be keeping a close eye to the Fintech industry. Besides providing innovative new technology and ideas for the banking industry, it’s also been estimated by Statista that “bank spending on new technologies was predicted to amount to $19.9 billion in 2017 in North America.”

With 350 tickets already sold, Alt Convention features Andreas M. Antonopoulos, Jon Matonis, and many more big names in Bitcoin, finance and government sectors as speakers. Alt Convention is geared towards anyone with an interest in emerging financial technologies, with discounted early bird tickets and substantial sponsorship opportunities available.

Startups are chipping into every line of business big banks enjoyed leading up to the financial crisis.

Giving back to the people who helped you grow goes a long way. Whether it be to your parents who nurtured and cared for you while you were little or to that teacher who never gave up on you when the others did. These people who never expect to be rewarded are the very ones who deserve to be, and TD Bank in Canada is all about that life.