Fintech News Issue #98 December 22nd, 2016

Below is an excerpt of the upcoming Digital Banking Report entitled, '2017 Retail Banking Trends and Predictions', with insights from a crowdsourced panel of close to 100 global financial services leaders and the results of a global industry survey.

Fintech, despite all the hand-wringing in recent years, isn't a full competitive threat to banks — yet.

We had the privilege to talk to João Vasconcelos, Portugal's Secretary of State of Industry and former Executive Director at Startup Lisboa, about the thriving tech scene and reasons for fintechs to come to Lisbon. Besides the beautiful landscape and great people, of course.

What will the digital future of banking look like? And how do topics like retail and smart data play into it? These questions and many more will be addressed as part of our Post/ bank hackathon series.

Whether it’s mobile payments, P2P transactions, or some other financial innovation, it’s obvious Fintech is growing fast! Knowing what’s happening, getting information, and networking has never been so important in this young industry. Below, you’ll find your guide to Fintech in 2017.

Despite the ongoing success of fintechs, and the continued proliferation of digitally focused challenger banks, global banks are more likely to see existing large incumbents as the biggest threat to their business, according to Temenos' annual banking survey.

While nearly half of executives in financial services see FinTechs as a 'significant threat', three quarters believe that they at the same time offer opportunities for partnerships / collaboration. A pathway to innovation is regarded as the main driver for joining forces with FinTech players.

According to a recent survey, more than half of banking executives want to improve their social and mobile channels. However, the same survey revealed that over 50% of consumers did not feel their bank knows them as a customer.

Uncertainty lingers over both the type and the amount of information that banks will be obliged to share and the communication interface they will need to implement (i.e. the channel used for sharing such information).

In the headlong rush to revolutionize modern finance, blockchain enthusiasts are overlooking one potentially costly problem: their applications, built on open-source code, may actually belong to someone else.

The #1 Retail Banking Trend and Prediction for 2017 was to remove friction from the customer journey. These are 10 ways banks and credit unions can deliver a better digital experience in 2017 and beyond.

Fintech has become an important sector as technological innovation has created the opportunity for significant disintermediation of traditional financial institutions resulting in reduced costs and widening choice of financial services for consumers.

The onset of the digital revolution has facilitated diversification, fragmentation and personalisation of spaces as diverse as media, travel and communications. Through the emergence and popularization of fintech platforms, this process is reshaping the payments space.

Will venture capital’s bet on millennial-centric online asset management platforms pay off? How are active and alternative investors using technology to gain an edge and generate alpha?