Fintech News Issue #49 January 7th, 2016

We wish you all a very happy and very prosperous 2016! To jump it off, we have an amazing episode today! Brett King hosts David Bach, 9-times bestselling author of the Finish Rich series, and a financial guru. Check out more about him at FinishRich.com.

[German only] Vor knapp einem Jahr gab es hier den ersten Podcast. Für euch hier die bisherige Top 1o – wobei man sagen muss, dass sich Mitte des Jahres die Stats bei Soundcloud geändert haben. Aber egal – das sind die blanken Zahlen.

Happy New Year. As 2016 starts, Brian & Faisal debate if “this” is the year for payments! Both agree that 2016 is the Goldilocks Year, where conditions will be just right for fintech and payment projects to take off.

In the UK, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has followed up on its rhetoric that the regulatory framework wants to accommodate innovation in financial services. We discuss the definite green signal and several welcome initiatives from the regulator that should deliver in 2016.

This article is based on a podcast recently recorded by LTP. We invited mobile payments guru Nick Holland to discuss what to expect in 2016 along with our Co-founder Amit Goel. LTP CEO Aditya Khurjekar moderated the special session, the first of a multi-part series, focused on predicting what we can expect in FinTech in 2016.

Last year the banking industry woke up to the reality that nimbler, more innovative technologies and entrepreneurs were looking to replace it. Now that bankers are fully aware of the challenge, 2016 is their chance to act.

We asked a panel of financial technology (Fintech) experts how they expect our world will change next year.

Below is an excerpt of the soon to be released Digital Banking Report entitled, '2016 Retail Banking Trends and Predictions', with insights from a crowdsource panel of close to 100 global financial services leaders.

Insurance companies are trying to jump-start innovation by working with relevant startups. These partnerships run the gamut from venture capital investments, to spinoffs, to acquisitions – but one thing is clear: Insurers know that there is a desire from external players to get involved in some aspect of the business.

Whenever inefficiencies pop up in the financial world, you can bet some entrepreneur is working on a solution to cut it down.

More good news for bitcoin, and the blockchain technology that it builds upon: At least five startups with $1bn valuations are expected to emerge within the next year, according to M&A advisers Magister Advisors.

Coming into the 2015 year-end I thought several notes would be of value relative to what I, and my colleagues, have seen this year in FinTech that warrants focus going into 2016. As a prelude, let me begin with this quote: "Remember, in a death-match, Dragons Eat Unicorns."

Four ways that banks and fintech providers will look to gain customers, innovate faster, and improve their digital offerings in 2016.