Fintech News Issue #50 January 13th, 2016

Today, Brett has Jim Marous, co-publisher of the Financial Brand and a Breaking Banks regular on the show to talk about expectations for 2016.

This week Brain Roemmele and Faisal Khan discuss what would it take for those with an idea about a payments startup in the US market to take their dream forward. Dispensing some practical advice on how to go from and idea to product launched in your target market.

The lack of digitization of the lending process by traditional banks is putting as much as one-third of retail banking revenues at risk, according to Bain and SAP.

At first there was Bitcoin†: the world’s most successful cryptocurrency to-date. But lately there has been more and more talk about “the Bitcoin blockchain”, “the blockchain”, “blockchain”, or “blockchain technology”.

"Estimated counts from different regional and global lists puts the existing number of fintech startups at anywhere between 5,000 to 6,000 companies, all vying for market share in different sub sectors, ranging from mobile payments, data analytics and virtual banking to online lending, bitcoin applications and crowd funding" I read in a recent Forbes article.

Bitcoin’s momentum is accelerating and cannot be ignored. Many commentators focus on the price of bitcoin, its volatility, the amount invested by VCs in Bitcoin companies and their valuations - but these provide a largely superficial view, giving little insight to Bitcoin’s true dynamics. Instead, other indicators illustrate better the dramatic momentum underway.

“Do you think that Google and Facebook will enter financial services ?” This is a question that is in many people’s minds, whether they work in Fintech or in traditional finance. And indeed, the arrival of the GAFA (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple) in finance has been predicted and expected for years – with great excitement by some, and much apprehension by others.

The adoption of industry standards and more mature platforms will shift big data's focus from IT-driven infrastructure projects to business-driven data solutions. Those who adopt big data strategies early and aggressively will realize operational efficiencies and top-line growth.

It’s funny how “data scientist” is the hot new profession when seemingly so many people seem completely unaware that things like “data” actually exist. Well, hold on — since I have no data to back up that assertion, let’s just say that the guy who wrote the TechCrunch article is seemingly unaware of the concept of data.

In FinTech, as in politics, circumstances can make for some strange bedfellows. Consider the evolving relationship between big banks and FinTech firms. Not long ago – think back, oh, only several months – FinTech was slated to eat traditional lenders’ lunches. Now, increasingly, they’re nibbling from the same plate.

New peer-to-peer platforms that match lenders with borrowers are proving to be more efficient than banks at connecting those with money and to those that need money.

Alessandro Hatami breaks down the business strategy of a theoretical neobank that puts the customer at the heart of everything it does.