Fintech News Issue #93 November 17th, 2016

Interview with João Freire de Andrade, Head of Venture Capital at BiG - Banco de Investimento Global who we met at the WebSummit 2016 in Lisbon last week. João talked to us about the Portuguese startups scene, investing in startups and how this will change banks.

We met Brett Myers, Co-Founder and CEO of leading P2P currency exchange service CurrencyFair to talk about Brexit, different types of customers and how banks are not negligent enough to fall behind in the long run.

Community banks need to innovate. Most of us accept that. Too much is changing around us, too many other players are jumping on our turf. Regulators seem out to strangle us. And customers demand more and more.

Fintech Investor Forum brings together 300 active FinTech investors, financial institutions and startup founders, so it’s a great opportunity to connect with people you want to meet to help your business grow, whatever stage you are at.

Fintech companies have now been provided with a great opportunity by the growing preference of millennials to accomplish tasks through digital applications.

Both the number of deals and total value of VC investment in fintech dropped in Q3'16

The insurance sector has entered a phase of profound transformation. Numerous Insurtech startups—around 1,000 according to Venture Scanner map—have popped up to challenge the traditional model by generating more than 16 billion dollars in the last year from insurance companies.

A new report finds half of banking customers around the globe are now using financial technology products or services from at least one fintech firm, but customers also put much more trust in traditional financial institutions.

While accessible consumer credit options have been widely expanded with financial technology startups to the extent of not being a major problem, accessible business credit is still a tough question.

Even before the financial crisis, Government policy on the banking sector was clear: encouraging the launch of challenger banks, ministers argued, was the best way to ensure greater competition and higher standards, to the benefit of the industry’s customers.

Millennials represent a substantial opportunity for banks and credit unions that can move from traditional processes to digital engagement that appeals to this unique and growing segment.

A combination of Big Data analytics and distributed ledger technology could help financial institutions combat escalating levels of financial crime, says the chief executive of the UK's Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey.

The World Bank estimates that two billion adults don’t have an account at a bank or other financial institution. They are the unbanked; outside the financial system. PwC puts the unmet deposit demand of the un(der)banked at $360 billion.

In 2010, Laszlo Hanyecz convinced someone to accept the 10,000 Bitcoins he had mined in exchange for two pizzas. In those distant days, Hanyecz estimated that each Bitcoin his computer had earned through mining was worth a fraction of a cent.